Canadian Para nordic skiing star Natalie Wilkie has now won a medal of every colour at the Milano-Cortina Paralympics, adding bronze in the women’s standing sprint classic on Tuesday in Val di Fiemme.
It’s Wilkie’s first cross-country skiing medal in Italy after earning biathlon gold and silver.
The Salmon Arm, B.C., native crossed the line in a time of three minutes 40.2 seconds to finish behind Norway’s Vilde Nilsen (3:31.3) and American Sydney Peterson (3:35.5) in the six-woman final at Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium.
Canada’s Natalie Wilkie completes the rainbow of Paralympic medals at Milano Cortina 2026
Wilkie, one of Canada’s flag-bearers for the opening ceremony, is now a 10-time Paralympic medallist. She took silver in Saturday’s sprint biathlon before winning the women’s individual biathlon on Sunday.
The 25-year-old also won a full set of medals at PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022.
Canada now has eight medals through four days of competition at the Milano-Cortina Paralympics — one gold, three silver, four bronze. The full medal table is available here.
Canada’s Natalie Wilkie is awarded her 3rd medal at the Milano-Cortina Paralympic Winter Games
Mark Arendz of Hartsville, P.E.I., finished last in the six-man final for the men’s standing sprint classic after clocking 2:49.7. Belarus’ Raman Svirydzenka (2:35.4) won the race ahead of Germany’s Sebastian Marburger (2:38.1) and France’s Benjamin Daviet (2:42.2).
In Para alpine, the Canadian duo of Kalle Eriksson and guide Sierra Smith missed the podium by just 0.05 seconds in the men’s combined, which consists of a super-G followed by a slalom.
Eriksson and Smith, aiming for their third medal in Italy, started strong by posting the second-fastest super-G (1:13.73), but their slalom time of 43.78 was only good for fifth, leaving them with a total time of 1:57.51.
The Canadians finished just over a minute behind Italian gold medallists Giacomo Bertagnolli and Andrea Ravelli (1:56.42).
Neil Simpson and Rob Poth of Great Britain took silver in 1:57.07, while Austria’s Johannes Aigner and Nico Haberl beat out the Canadians for bronze.
Kimberley, B.C.’s Eriksson and Ottawa’s Smith, who are also partners, delivered Canada’s first medal of the Games with silver in the downhill event on Saturday before adding super-G bronze on Monday.
Mark Ideson’s Canadian rink remains undefeated in the mixed team tournament after a 9-4 victory against China.
Canada faced its toughest competition thus far, as both teams entered the contest unbeaten in round-robin play.
“China is reigning Paralympic champion [and] reigning world champion for a good reason. They’re a great team,” said third Jon Thurston, who completed an incredible now-viral shot against Norway on Monday.
“It’s always good battles between us. We bought our best game today.”
Canada defeats reigning Paralympic champs from China to move into top spot in wheelchair curling
After a back-and-forth six ends, Canada pulled away in the seventh end with the hammer, claiming four rocks.
China (4-1) opted to concede the 8th end, confirming the final result for the Canadians.
Canada (5-0) takes on another stiff test against Sweden (4-1) at 1:35 p.m. ET.
Canada looking to build on momentum after beating reigning Paralympic wheelchair curling champs
