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What comes after a silver medal for the territory's only athlete to attend the Special Olympic World Winter Games?

"A party on the weekend maybe,鈥� Michael Sumner says with a grin, his silver medal for figure skating hanging proudly around his neck over a red hoodie.

A party would certainly be in order for the 16-year-old F.H. Collins Secondary School student who returned to a hero's welcome at the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport early Wednesday evening.

Being named as the only Yukoner to the 141- member Team Canada to attend the Games in PyeongChang, South Korea was an accomplishment on its own. Sumner said Wednesday he hadn't set out expecting a medal at the Games in the competition against seven other skaters in the Level 1 category.

"It was magnificent,鈥� he said of the entire experience, adding how pleased he was to represent the Yukon well.

It was Sumner's free skate that pushed up his overall ranking into the medal position at the Games. He was ranked fifth after his compulsory skate, but following the free skate to a Pirates of the Caribbean - Black Pearl theme he moved up to second.

And Sumner is thankful to his roommate at the Games for that.

A Level 6 figure skater, Marc Theriault advised Sumner to try and dream about his perfect skate the night before the competition.

The next day, Sumner went through a pretty flawless routine, adding a little bit of flare when he did a jump off his toe pics instead of the regular jump. He landed it perfectly and ended the routine with a pirate style bow to the judges. He moved up the ranks, walking away with the silver medal in the end.

"I celebrated with my whole team,鈥� he said, recalling the many hugs that came his way from teammates after he took off his skates.

And of course, there were soon the overseas calls to the family.

No one was home when the call came, but he left a message about it and then saying "I repeat...鈥� to tell the story over again.

A mother's first thoughts on her son winning a medal at the world games: "Oh my goodness, my boy,鈥� Deb recalled.

She initially learned of the medal from Internet updates and was thrilled to get the call from her excited son.

Of course, Sumner couldn't help but call other family members.

His grandmother Elaine could only hear her husband's end of the conversation when Sumner called, but when her husband Ed asked "what colour is it,鈥� she knew her grandson had medaled.

Deb was quick to note how thankful she was to a Telus official involved with the Special Olympics who provided all of Team Canada with phones to contact their family.

She was also quick to note the local support he's had from coaches and other Special Olympics Yukon athletes and many others in the territory.

And of course there's his family.

Deb has had the pleasure of getting to play assistant coach on occasion and it was Elaine who put together his pirate costume for his free skate.

It was also Elaine who crocheted more than 80 scarves for Sumner's fellow Special Olympics athletes and supporters who took in his local performance just before he left for Korea. Sumner had come back from a competition in Alberta with a similar scarf that he liked.

To show local support, Elaine got to work so that others could have one and show their support for her grandson.

Asked why he went with a Pirates of the Caribbean theme for his skate, Sumner replied that he loves the movies.

Skating is similar. He loves skating and being on the ice and on Wednesday he said he feels like he was "born to skate,鈥�

That statement comes despite a disability that makes coordination difficult for Sumner.

As Deb noted though he started skating and just stuck with it. The family has noticed a lot of improvement to Sumner's coordination with both yoga and skating.

No stranger to working through challenges, Sumner will now move on to Level 2 competition in figure skating and on Wednesday was already demonstrating moves he would have to master on the ice.

That was just a day after returning to Whitehorse where he was greeted by a hometown crowd who could now throw flowers and offer their congratulations to the skater.

His dad, who had flown down to Vancouver to meet him for the final leg home, let him go ahead and be greeted by the crowd.

"I was so happy I was crying,鈥� he said of the airport festivities.

Over the intercom at both F.H. Collins and Sumner's former school at Selkirk Elementary earlier in the day, it was announced that Sumner would be coming into town that evening.

While Sumner is setting his sites on future skating competitions and competing in Special Olympics soccer through the summer, he was also looking forward to catching up on sleep.