Juneau resident Kyle Worl arrived home this week with some new hardware.<\/p>\n
Worl, 27, the Native Youth Olympics coach and World Eskimo Games heavyweight, won the gold ulu in three Arctic Sports disciplines — Alaska High Kick, knuckle hop, kneel jump — at the 2018 Arctic Winter Games last week in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories.<\/p>\n
Only one other competitor tallied more points in the 10 different games that kept Worl busy all five days of the international event.<\/p>\n
In the last two years at the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics, Worl has placed first in the all-around open male. He also won two ulus in the last AWG in Nuuk, Greenland, and scored four in 2014 in Fairbanks.<\/p>\n
Two others in the Alaska high kick also received gold ulus. After Worl and two others made contact with a ball suspended 7 feet in the air, organizers moved the ball up to 7 feet, 4 inches. After all failed to hit that height, it was moved down to 7 feet, 3 inches.<\/p>\n
“We all missed at 7 feet, 3 inches, so at that point, that make it a three-way tie,” Worl said. “Which they usually try to break ties, but we just kept getting out at the same height (and) had the same number of misses.”<\/p>\n
Unlike in the Alaskan High Kick, Worl was the clear winner in the knuckle hop. Worl’s first-place finish of 167 feet surpassed his old record by 22 feet.<\/p>\n
Worl’s father, Rodney Worl, holds the world record in the knuckle hop at 191 feet, 10 inches. The record has stood at the Arctic Winter Games since 1988.<\/p>\n
“That’s my ultimate goal is trying to reach my dad’s world record but it’s one of the longest-standing records in the Games,” Worl said. “With this performance, I feel like I’m finally in sight of actually breaking his record, about 25 feet off, which seems much more doable than this last WEIO which was like 45 feet off.”<\/p>\n
Worl said the crowd plays a big role in the success of athletes in this sport.<\/p>\n
“When you’re doing good and you starting making some distance, the crowd really starts getting pumped up and they start cheering for you and yelling and clapping,” Worl said. “It’s a total adrenaline rush where I don’t feel anything in my knuckles at all. … What I do start to feel is my muscles starting to give up out, and my muscles starting to burn. And that’s the hard part.”<\/p>\n
A couple hours away, Finn Morley and Lindsay McTague were busy winning gold ulus of their own.<\/p>\n
Morley placed first in two snowshoeing events: the 2.5 kilometer and short distance combined.<\/p>\n
McTague, an eighth-grader, won first in the 2.5K and 5K snowshoe races.<\/p>\n
“It was just really cool because I came into it as an alternate for (Team) Alaska,” McTague said. “I did a lot of training and once I got there I was really excited to race and it was just perfect. The trails were awesome and so fun.”<\/p>\n
McTague finished the 2.5 km race in 14 minutes, 59.20 seconds — nine seconds in front Team Alaska teammate Leah Fallon. She finished her 5K in 29:09.10, almost 50 seconds faster than the time of Fallon, who again came in second.<\/p>\n
For the full list of winners, visit https:\/\/awg2018.org\/.<\/p>\n
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com.<\/b><\/p>\n
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