*
[class bell rings]
In the halls of Chippewa Falls High School,
Ty Wiberg is on a mission.
- Todos son muy curiosos, ¿no?
- Sí. - Sí.
- Ty is starting the final semester of his senior year
and studying Spanish.
[laughing]
- ¡Esa es una oportunidad fantástica!
- In any language, the past year for Ty
has been filled with fantastic opportunities.
Because of what he's done out here.
[click]
[skis brush against snow]
Ty competes for the Chippewa Valley Nordic Ski Team,
sometimes practicing more than five nights a week.
- Come on, Ty, you got five seconds.
Go, go, go!
- So, if I'm going really hard,
I'm thinking about just speeding up my stroke
and just tell myself, just pull, pull, pull.
Or sometimes when I'm on a nice, easy ski,
it's just kinda thinking about, you know,
what am I gonna have for dinner tonight
when I get done with practice.
Most nights, there's not a lot of time to think about dinner.
- Way to go, Ty.
- Because Ty has been training
for the US National Championships.
- So, it's kind of a tough practice
just to get those quicker sprints in
to get me ready for a couple of the races I'm doing.
- Qualifying for nationals was a big deal for Ty and his parents.
- This is kind of amazing
because he just got into Nordic
within the last couple of years
and to be competing in Utah at a national level.
- However, that competition
would open the door for the unexpected.
- The coach for Team USA pulled me off to the side,
and she asked me, "Ty, do you have a passport?"
And I looked at her a little puzzled,
and she's like, "Well, you're going to Germany."
It took a second for it to register,
and I was like, "Are you serious?"
- Team USA selected Ty
to be part of their national development team.
The news spread quickly.
From that moment,
Ty could feel the support of family and community
at every turn.
- Keep that spirit up. - Thank you.
It's a really cool experience
to see that community behind me.
See all the people that are supporting me,
even people that I've never met before.
- Get 'em, get 'em, get 'em!
- For his first international competition,
Ty kept his aspirations simple.
- My goal is to go out there,
have as much fun as possible,
and soak up the environment.
I'm just gonna measure success by skiing my hardest.
I'm just looking forward to,
obviously, skiing against the best in the world.
- Skiing for Team USA is quite an accomplishment
for this Wisconsin teen born with spina bifida.
- So when I was born, my spinal cord was outside of my back
so it affects all of the nerves below that.
I don't have control over my legs.
So I don't have feeling in my feet.
- Al Wiberg: That shock, I remember that day specifically
when we were sitting in the doctor's office
and they said that
and then when we're traveling down to Mayo Clinic,
it was actually 9/11.
And they're all telling you
all these worst-case scenarios.
- Michele Wiberg: It would be very easy
to make a million and one excuses
as far as, "I can't do this because I have spina bifida.
I can't do this because of my disability,"
and instead, he says,
"Well, maybe I just had to find a different way to do it."
- I had to overcome a lot of stereotypes having a disability
and then, even just the challenges
of trying to find ways to adapt the sports.
- At the World Championships, Ty's winning attitude paid off.
Not in a first-place finish or spot on the medal stand.
For Ty, it's about so much more.
- I didn't place super high, but my times improved a lot.
That's kind of all that mattered for me,
and I was super happy placing where I did.
It was the best I had felt finishing last.
It showed me how much harder I need to work.
I definitely came back motivated,
motivated more than ever
because it's an attainable goal now.
- Michele Wiberg: And I think the best part about Ty,
he just embraces who he is.
When people ask him,
"If you could take away your disability,"
he would say, "Absolutely not."
He said, "My disability doesn't define me,
but it is who I am
and I would not be where I am today
if it weren't for my disability.
- Ty Wiberg: I'm being noticed for my hard work,
and it's just a great feeling.
If you wanna do something, go out and do it
because you can't let anyone tell you differently.
Ty Wiberg is determined.
Ty Wiberg is tenacious.