Juggling School, Training, Ty Wiberg Embraces The Sacrifices On His Para Skiing Journey

Though Ty Wiberg isn’t having the typical college experience, it has gone well for him so far.

Wiberg, who’s majoring in community health at Montana State, knows there are times when he can’t hang out with his friends in downtown Bozeman. That’s because he goes to bed at 9:30 p.m. or 10 p.m. every night — not just during the week but also on the weekends.

He makes sure to get plenty of rest.

In addition to taking three classes a semester, Wiberg has been training full-time in the hopes of making his Paralympic debut as a Nordic sit skier at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games. He has also worked a part-time job to help pay his bills and have extra money to go on trips.

Wiberg, 22, is in his junior year at Montana State. If things go as he hopes, he could graduate from college either right before he competes in the next Winter Paralympics or soon afterward. He wants to then pursue either a master’s degree or a Ph.D. in family and relationship therapy.

“(I’m) juggling a few things to pursue this dream, which can be tough, but you’ve got to make sacrifices,” Wiberg said. “So, I found if I go (to college) part-time and I really engage myself and do well in those studies that I can work and train and not feel super crazy overwhelmed. It’s been working out well.

“Of course, it’s putting me back a little bit in terms of graduation and that sort of thing. But it is allowing me to pursue multiple goals that I have, which is get a college degree but also being a professionally competing athlete.”

As busy as he was, Wiberg enjoyed a productive Para Nordic skiing season this past winter. He continued to improve his strength, endurance and fitness, and he created some momentum for himself that he hopes to carry into the offseason.

“I was hoping to qualify for a world cup, and I wasn’t sure which ones it was going to be,” Wiberg said. “And so, I just treated every race that gave me the opportunity to qualify, I treated it as if I’m going to try to qualify and put everything I could into them. And ultimately, for me, it paid off, and I was super psyched about that.”

Wiberg qualified along with his training partner and fellow sit skier Nicole Zaino for the world cup season finale in Prince George, British Columbia. He competed in three races over four days, finishing 12th in the middle-distance biathlon on March 13 and then 22nd and 24th, respectively, in a pair of cross-country skiing races.

Wiberg said the opportunity to race in Prince George showed him that his training and mental approach to the sport were paying off in a significant way. Making the occasion even more special, his parents traveled to Canada to watch him race.

It was the first time they had seen him compete in an international race, and Wiberg said he left Prince George with mixed emotions.

“Reflecting back on the world cup final, I had felt as though at first I didn’t do as well as I wanted to. It’s one of those things where it’s really easy to get in your brain about, ‘Ugh, well, I finished second-to-last or I finished last here,’” Wiberg said.

“And then as I did more reflecting, it was, yes, but I did that at the world cup. I’m still making improvements, and my times are getting better. So, it was trying to do a little bit of both. There was a little bit of, ‘Oh my gosh, I feel like I’m not doing as good as I should be.’ But also, ‘Look how far I’ve come since the last time I’ve competed internationally or even since the last time I competed in that season.’”

As he wraps up his offseason training heading into the 2024-25 season, Wiberg said his focus was to continue to work on his strength and fitness.

“I’ve gotten a few years under my belt, and I’ve got a good way of managing everything I’ve got going in life,” Wiberg said. “So, it’s really just building strength, building fitness and just trying to push in the best way possible in all the little areas that we possibly can.”

Alex Abrams has written about Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than 15 years, including as a reporter for major newspapers in Florida, Arkansas and Oklahoma. He is a freelance contributor to USParaNordic.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.