57 athletes from across Virginia are competing this week at the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games in Minneapolis. The Games bring together more than 3,000 athletes from all 50 states across 16 sports, and Team Virginia has been in the mix since competition opened Monday. The delegation heads home Saturday.
Dominick Powell and Keith Walker, a Unified pickleball pair from Henrico, won Team Virginia's first Gold of the Games early in the week. Powell has been a Special Olympics athlete since 2024, and the two have trained together leading up to Minneapolis. Their Gold in doubles was the first of eight for the delegation so far.
On the track, Dymontrie Hopkins won Gold in the 100m while Conner Emmert earned Bronze in the same event. Conner's road to Minneapolis was the subject of Conner's World, a Special Olympics Virginia documentary that followed his preparation for these Games and premiered to a sold-out crowd in April. You can watch it at www.specialolympicsva.org/News/conners-world.
Travis Hunter brought home Silver in bowling, one of 11 Silver medals Team Virginia has earned through Wednesday. The volleyball team had one of the more competitive runs of the week, earning Silver after falling to Wisconsin in a tight third set, 11-15. The flag football team finished 6th overall.
Through Wednesday, Team Virginia has earned 8 Gold, 11 Silver, and 13 Bronze medals, with athletes still competing today and tomorrow across multiple sports.
Photos from the week are at specialolympicsva.smugmug.com/Sports/2026-USA-Games and you can meet the full team at www.specialolympicsva.org/meet-the-team.