After a Six-Year Wait Skier DesaRae Nickell is On Her Way to the World Games

In the early morning hours of March 5, six years after first being nominated to ski with Special Olympics USA at the World Winter Games, Morehead skier DesaRae Nickell FINALLY hopped on a plane to complete her journey to represent Kentucky and the USA on the world stage. She flew from Lexington to New York City where she met up with the rest of the Special Olympics USA Team to fly to Turin for the Special Olympics World Winter Games Turin 2025.

Nickel will be one of 160 Special Olympics USA athletes and one of 1,500 athletes from around the world competing in Turin. She will compete in the Slalom, Giant Slalom and Super G events at the Games.

Nickel, who has been a Special Olympics athlete for 14 years and who has skied for 12, was first selected to be part of the Special Olympics USA team in 2019 ahead of the planned 2021 Games that were to be held in Sweden. Complications and COVID forced those Games to be moved first to Kazan, Russia, and then to 2022. However, global events eventually forced the cancellation of those Games entirely.

Her long journey to the World Games has finally ended, and she’s excited that her time to shine has finally arrived.

“It’s a great honor to get to walk into the (Opening Ceremonies) with Team USA,” she told WLEX TV in January.

You can watch those Opening Ceremonies live on espn.com and the ESPN App on March 8 beginning at Noon ET.

The Games will run from March 8-16 with athletes competing in eight sports at venues throughout the Piedmont Region of Italy. Competition for Nickell with a practice day on March 9. Her first competitive ski will come on Divisioning Day for the Giant Slalom and Super G on March 11 and her first finals will come in the Giant Slalom on March 12. The Super G finals will take place on March 13. There will be another Divisioning Day for the Slalom on March 14 with the Slalom finals on March 15.

In addition to the Opening Ceremonies, ESPN will also will deliver live and recorded highlights on its family of TV channels, the ESPN+ streaming service, ESPN3, ESPN.com and the ESPN App.

You will be able to follow DesaRae’s progress throughout the Games here, on our Facebook page, and X and Instagram feeds.

To follow Special Olympics USA, visit specialolympicsusa.org, join the email list, and follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Hashtag: #Cheer4USA

For more information about the 2025 Special Olympics World Winter Games or DesaRae’s progress, contact Mark Buerger at mbuerger@soky.org or 502-695-8222.