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Australia’s Paralympic Winter Games hopefuls may feel even more incentive to represent the nation at the Milano Cortina Paralympic Games next March after they experienced the pivotal and exciting occasion known as Team Processing this week in Melbourne.
Athletes, coaches and staff received a range of briefings about the Games from Paralympics Australia experts before being fitted for competition gear, casual wear and ceremonial uniform at the event, hosted at the RACV City Club.
“It’s motivating to see everyone here and it kind of gives you that extra motivation for the next 10 months, to dig in and push,” Para-alpine skier Sam Tait said.
“The vibe’s great, everyone here trying on uniforms. To have every one of the snowboarders here and to see the biathlon team here as well – to have a bigger team, with more sports – is really cool to see.”
Tait said the lure of competing at iconic Cortina, with the mountains flanking each side of the alpine course, was strong, as he aims for his third Paralympic Games.
At the other end of the experience scale, Taryn Dickens is all-in on making her first Australian Paralympic Team in a sport in which Australia hasn’t competed at the top level in 15 years.
“To make it to this point has been a long three years,” said Dickens, who has a vision impairment.
“Just trying to get Para-Nordic (which includes Para-biathlon and Para-cross country) back into the Australian sphere of sport … moving forward now, we’re pretty set, prepped and ready to go.”
Dickens and fellow Para-Nordic hopeful Dave Miln are both serving members of the Royal Australian Navy. Dickens said that to reach the point of being on the Long List of potential Australian team members was a great achievement.
“What a day,” she said. “It’s been hectic, it’s been amazing and everyone’s been so friendly and helpful.”
Among the activities at Team Processing, Paralympics Australia staff presented on topics including logistics, media operations, sport integrity, medical, as well as arrangements for families and friends. Corporate partners and select donors were provided behind-the-scenes access to the event.
Australian Paralympic Team Chef de Mission Ben Troy said Team Processing felt like “a real line-in-the-sand moment”.
“We had samples of the race suits, which we’ve never had before (at Team Processing), and when some of the athletes pulled them on you could just see that little extra bit of ‘Ok, this is real, I could actually pull on the green and gold and become a Paralympian’’’ – or attend another Games.
As well as ticking off essential processes to ensure there are no obstacles to performance at the Games, Troy said it was important just to assemble the athletes in one place, as they travel much of the year on their respective sports’ circuits.
“Winter sport is amazing,” he said. “Blind skiers doing over 100kph, people in wheelchairs ripping down in carbon fibre ‘buckets’, as we call them colloquially. You just need to see it to believe it.”
The Milano Cortina Paralympic Winter Games starts on March 6, 2026
By David Sygall, Paralympics Australia.
Published 1 May, 2025.
