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WHISTLER, British Columbia (AP) — Prince Harry raced headfirst on a small skeletal sled at 99 kilometers per hour (61.5 mph) down a track at the site of next year’s Invictus Games on Thursday, then said with a smile that everyone should do.
Harry was in Whistler, British Columbia, with his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, to visit athletes at training camps and promote the games he founded for service personnel and veterans wounded, ill or injured after serving in Afghanistan.
The British prince did two races on one of the world’s fastest bobsled tracks, which also hosts skeleton races. The 2025 games in Vancouver and Whistler will be the first to feature winter sports including skeleton, skiing events and wheelchair curling, but will also host events such as indoor rowing, sitting volleyball, swimming, rugby wheelchair and wheelchair rugby. basketball.
The cowbells rang as the prince finished his first race, and when he was helped off the track, he took off his helmet and said with a smile that “everyone should do this, it should be mandatory.”
Meghan was waiting at the end of the track after her two races.
“Meghan, you have to go,” someone yelled. “No way,” she replied.
Experienced sliders start at the top of the track, although the prince started at the middle of the track. He was first given some safety instructions and the doctors were waiting.
American Ivan Morera, a single-arm amputee who was injured in a combat zone in Afghanistan, was in Whistler for training camp. He said he appreciated that Harry gave service members the opportunity to find purpose after an injury.
“I am continually recovering from this injury, maybe not physically, but emotionally, mentally,” Morera said in an interview. “A big catastrophic event like that takes a toll on you, so adaptive sports are my way of dealing with that.”
The 2025 games will have around 500 competitors from 23 countries from February 8 to 16, 2025.