MISSOULA – The Special Olympics USA Games held their opening ceremonies today and 23 athletes from Montana are attending. Two of those 23 are powerlifters who train locally in whitefish.
Both Sylvester vermillion and chandler krahn are currently in seattle waiting to compete in power lifting in the special Olympics USA games.
Vermillion and Krahn have both picked up the sport in the past few years but have grown to love it. “It’s just fun picking up the weight then the Bruised and bloody shins everything is just fun,” said Krahn. “I was kind of hesitant at first because I didn’t think I was strong enough. I wasn’t very confident I would say. But once I started I recognized that I did have a little bit of power,” said Vermillion.
And it’s helping both of them inside and out of the weight room. In 7th grade chandler was diagnosed with hyper mobility, a disorder that allows his joints to easily dislocate, but power lifting has helped. “my fingers still do but my shoulders don’t do it as much. My knees still dislocate a lot but it helps a lot with the check my ribs, they don’t dislocate as much. It helps a lot,” said Krahn.
And for sylvester, it simply helps him with everyday life.”I could be having a bad day and go to practice or just go lift and what I was having a bad day with seems to go away,” said Vermillion.
Both lifters are slated to begin their lifts tomorrow and will conclude on July 6th. We’ll see if the duo from Montana can bring home a medal.
