Ukrainian war veteran amputees learn adaptive skiing in Oregon

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HOODOO SKI AREA, Ore. (AP) — Ukrainian war veteran Oleksandr Shvachka lost his left leg to Russian tank fire outside Kyiv. Three years on, the latest step in his physical and mental rehabilitation recently unfolded under a brilliant blue sky on a snow-covered mountain more than 5,000 miles (8,047 kilometers) away.

Shvachka, 38, was one of five Ukrainian veterans who came to the Pacific Northwest for ski lessons this month with Oregon Adaptive Sports, an organization working to make sports more accessible to people with disabilities.

On a recent day, he listened attentively to an instructor before launching himself down a slope at Hoodoo Ski Area in central Oregon, leaning on two hand-held “outriggers,” which resemble forearm crutches with short skis at the ends, for turns and balance as he picked up speed.

Shvachka was wounded in the village of Makariv outside the capital of Kyiv in March 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine the previous month. He said skiing on the mountain was an “amazing emotion.”

“It’s a new experience, and I’m so happy,” he said.

The Oregon city of Corvallis has been sister cities with Uzhhorod in western Ukraine for over 30 years. Its sister city association hosted the veterans, some of whom have been recovering in Uzhhorod’s rehabilitation hospital, as well as two Ukrainian ski coaches, association co-founder Carol Paulson said.

The ski program's goal is to improve the veterans’ physical and mental health and teach the Ukrainian ski coaches how to use adaptive ski equipment so they can share that knowledge with the war-torn country’s thousands of amputees. The group had four days of lessons over the course of two weeks.

“It reminds them that they can participate fully in life,” Paulson said. “The best thing is the feeling that they get not only of independence, but just of well-being.”

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Paulson taught adaptive skiing to Vietnam War veterans who had lost limbs. She saw how being active on the mountain improved their mood and wanted to offer the same experience to Ukrainian war veterans.

“The peacefulness of skiing compared to other sports, too, is special,” she said. “It’s quiet. You have the pristine snow and the breeze of the wind.”

For Shvachka, adaptive sports have been key in his physical and mental rehabilitation, while the other veterans provide motivation, he said.

In 2023, with his prosthetic leg, Schvachka ran a 10K race organized by the U.S. Marine Corps in Washington, D.C., and competed with other Ukrainian veteran amputees in Arnold Classic Europe, an offshoot of a fitness and body-building competition founded by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In that multi-sport event, a group of eight veterans used ropes to pull four semitruck cabs weighing 35 tons (31.7 metric tons) over 65 feet (20 meters) in a little more than 30 seconds, according to the event's Instagram page, which described it as a strongman world record.

Pat Addabbo, executive director of Oregon Adaptive Sports, said the ski lessons highlight the transformative power of sport.

“What you’re seeing here today is a great example of that — people from across the world, coming to our little ski area here in Oregon, to learn these life-changing skills that they hopefully can take home with them and teach others," Addabbo said.

The Ukrainian veterans and ski instructors will take outriggers with them back to Ukraine so that they can start teaching three-track skiing — the method using one full-size ski and two outriggers — to others who have lost limbs.

“I think we are starting a new era of our war veteran rehabilitation program,” said Kristian Minai, one of the Ukrainian instructors.

Minai also coaches Ukraine's national deaf ski team and is working on developing a national Paralympics ski team.

“Maybe, some day, we will see them from the podium in the Paralympic Games," he added with a smile.