USADSF Winter Deaflympics Committee Completes Chef De Mission Visit

INNSBRUCK, AUSTRIA -- From January 13-16, members of the USADSF's Winter Deaflympics Committee traveled to Austria's mountainous Tyrol region for the official Chef de Mission trip for the 2027 Winter Deaflympics.

Representatives from Deaf sports federations from around the world gathered in the Austrian Alps from January 13-16, 2026, for the Chef de Mission workshops ahead of the 2027 Winter Deaflympics.

USADSF Winter Deaflympics Committee members including John Skjeveland, Lisa Tempesta, Justen Burns, and Jim Skjeveland (interpreter) attended the three-day workshop, which featured site inspections and hotel visits in both Innsbruck and Seefeld. The event closed with a celebratory "1 Year 2 Go" dinner to mark the one year countdown to the Games, which will take place from January 15-24, 2027.

Venues visited included Innsbruck's Olympiaworld complex and TIWAG Arena, which will host the Ice Hockey, Curling, Chess, and Futsal competitions and Seefeld's Gschwandtkopf mountain, which was also the site of the first-ever Winter Deaflympics in 1949. The alpine and nordic ski programs as well as two events on the snowboard program will be held at Gschwandtkopf, while two additional snowboard events are tentatively slated to take place in Innsbruck.

"The venues are top-quality Olympic sites," remarked John Skjeveland. "We could not be more pleased about the venues." The Committee will now get to work planning the details of the US delegation to the Winter Deaflympics.

To express interest and learn more about how to qualify for each sport (Ice Hockey, Snowboard, Alpine Skiing, Nordic Skiing, Chess, and Futsal), please reach out to USADSF Winter Deaflympics Committee Members at info@usdeafsports.org and stay tuned for updated selection criteria to be posted on the USADSF website.

USADSF representatives (clockwise from top left: Justen Burns, John Skjeveland, Jim Skjeveland (interpreter), and Lisa Tempesta) pose for a photo in Innsbruck Old Town.