Prince Harry and Meghan in Whistler, B.C., for Invictus Games training camp

WHISTLER, B.C. — It was a love-in in Whistler, B.C., as Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, attended Invictus Games training sessions a year before Canada is set to host the games.

The couple spent part of their Valentine’s Day greeting athletes and onlookers, shaking hands and taking photos.

The prince donned a helmet and successfully snaked his way down the bunny hill on a sit-ski, which allows athletes to ski in a bucket seat suspended above one or more blades.

Prince Harry and Megan dressed for the chilly weather, both in winter hats and boots. Megan wore all white with a long, puffy beige-coloured coat.

Prince Harry is the founder of the Games for wounded, injured or sick service personnel and veterans, which he created in 2014 after his deployment to Afghanistan.

The purpose of this week’s training camp is to support participating nations to build year-round adaptive sports programs.

Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 will host more than 500 competitors from 23 nations and is scheduled to take place Feb. 8 to 16, 2025.

The Games will be the first to feature winter sports, including alpine skiing, nordic skiing, skeleton and wheelchair curling, but it will also host indoor rowing, sitting volleyball, swimming, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball as it has previously.

Colombia’s first female competitor, Rosa Sanchez Bermudez, came to the Whistler training camp and also got to try sit-skiing for the first time.

The former police officer was paralyzed after being shot and uses a manual wheelchair.

She said she hopes to compete next year in rowing, kayaking and skiing.

“I don’t feel my legs, but here, just having (my) arms, I feel that I can walk again,” she said through an interpreter.

Colombia is the first South American country to have athletes at the Games and its athletes attended their first Games in Duesseldorf, Germany, last year.

Canadian veteran Mike Bourgeois competed for Team Canada at the Invictus Games in the Netherlands in 2022.

“The road to recovery, for me, was all about mental wellness and physical wellness,” Bourgeois told reporters on a bus travelling the Sea to Sky Highway from Vancouver to Whistler for the training camp.

Bourgeois, who served as an infantry officer for about 22 years, suffered a spinal cord injury during his initial training with the Armed Forces. But it went undiagnosed and he completed his service with a broken spine, which led to severe degradation of his mobility and short-term memory.

He later suffered a heart attack, which set off his application to compete in the Invictus Games in archery and cycling. He was accepted for 2020, though those Games were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Truly, it’s life changing,” he said of the Games.

His wife, Lori Bourgeois, said it has also been healing for his family.

“We get over to the Netherlands and it was like this world opened up with thousands of people like us who have been through illness and injury,” she said. “And that is the power of the Invictus Games.”

Mike Bourgeois said he would have loved to compete in the Games again, but Canada typically allows veterans to participate in one games to allow other injured service members an opportunity to experience healing through sport.

He said that healing journey should not end when the Games end for participants.

He now works as an ambassador for the Invictus Games and participates in sporting events around the world — including the 2023 Gran Fondo, a 122-kilometre cycling race that takes the same Sea-To-Sky route from Vancouver to Whistler.

“Most veterans who suffer with physical and mental wellness are not connected to support networks,” he said. “So, the whole learning journey of the Invictus program is about learning that you’re not alone, learning that your families are not alone.”

It will be the second time Canada hosts the Invictus Games after Toronto’s Games in 2017.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 14, 2024.

Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press