Finn Schneider brought his big maple energy from Vermont to the Special Olympics USA Games

As Finn Schneider steps up to the starting blocks and begins to set his feet, Toby watches anxiously, never letting Finn out of his sight. Finn is a marathon runner, swimmer and triathlete, about to compete in the 500-yard freestyle final at the Special Olympics 2026 USA Games. In just over seven minutes, he'll be out of the pool, having secured a gold medal. Toby is his emotional support dog, and in about 15 minutes, he'll be in sitting Finn's lap, licking his face.

Finn is from a family full of athletes. His sister and brother are both varsity college skiers in college — one at Dartmouth, the other at Middlebury. His mother was a professional triathlete and both parents have completed multiple Ironman races. And then there's the 23-year-old Finn. It's only June, and this year he's already run the Boston Marathon, become the first person with Prader-Willi syndrome to complete a full Ironman and now won two Special Olympics medals — that gold in the 500-yd freestyle and a silver in the 200-yd medley earlier in the week.

That's a lifetime of athletic milestones crammed info six months, and he's just getting started. Next up is a half Ironman in Maine, to help get ready for another full Ironman in South Africa next year. The goal is to qualify for the iconic Lake Placid Ironman next year, as well as the Special Olympics 2027 World Games in Santiago, Chile.

Big, worldwide, athletic dreams for someone from one of the smallest states in the country.

From Middlebury, Vermont to the national stage

Finn is from Middlebury, Vermont, population ~9,000. His first experience with Special Olympics was in high school with Unified Basketball, but he quickly moved up to play with the state delegation. His focus these days is more on endurance sports.

He trains seven days a week, swimming in the Middlebury college pool, with open water training swims on Lake Dunmore, from Branbury State Park to Keewaydin Summer Camp. His weekend long rides are 70-80 miles of rolling hills and gap climbs on scenic New England roads. His athletic accomplishments may eventually take him around the world, but he's a Vermonter through and through.

"It's really amazing to be on a large stage, and also representing Vermont as a small delegation," Finn told me after his 500-yd win, with Toby curled up at his feet. "In Vermont, it's a very small group of swimmers to compete against. And a lot of times they have to put males and females together during the meets. So this is the first time for us [Vermont] swimmers to be coming to an area with a bunch more swimmers and ability levels."

His teammates, the other three swimmers from Vermont — Daniel Goodrow, Colleen Duffy and Erin Watson — have also represented the state well, competing hard and bringing home two more medals. The bond on the team is strong and some of them have been swimming together since they were four years old. But they also connected through a shared "no added sugar" challenge in preparation for the USA Games. Over the course of several weeks they kept inventories of what they ate and slowly reduced the amount of added sugar in their diets, tracking how the changes affected them and their training.

Unsurprisingly, Vermont maple syrup turned out to be an excellent sweetener that didn't affect the swimmers as negatively as other sugars. It's fitting then that the pins for the Vermont state delegation include a red maple leaf. (Every state delegation comes to the USA Games with hundreds of pins to represent their state. Athletes and their families trade pins with other delegations and it's a badge of honor to collect as many as possible — at the time we talked Finn said he was only missing Oklahoma and Georgia.)

The other symbol on the Vermont pin is a creemee — a take on soft-serve ice cream that is unique to the state. It has a higher butter fat content and is whipped to be more airy than other soft ice creams. But Finn's explanation is more about the soul than the science.

"The cream comes from our cows in Vermont and the maple syrup comes from Vermont, so it's very local and very special to the state. If you really want pure maple creemees, you have to go to Vermont."

He'll have to wait until he gets home to celebrate with the good stuff, but he's certainly earned a large maple creemee (with sprinkles) with his performance here in Minneapolis. Toby has too.

Why We Play features stories about the power of sports to bring us together, overcome obstacles, make positive change and reach everyone. Read more here.

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