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Canadian skier Natalie Wilkie captured her (and Canada’s) second gold medal of the Winter Paralympics in northern Italy today, winning the women’s standing biathlon sprint pursuit by more than 17 seconds. The 25-year-old from Salmon Arm, B.C., now has four medals at these Games and 11 since her Paralympic debut in 2018, with two races left before competition concludes on Sunday.
A couple of other top Canadians came very close to the podium today. Fourteen-time Paralympic medallist Mark Arendz placed fourth in the men’s standing biathlon sprint pursuit, only 4½ seconds behind the bronze winner. Alpine skier Kalle Eriksson and his guide Sierra Smith also finished fourth in the men’s vision-impaired giant slalom, missing their third medal of the Games by 0.12 of a second. On Tuesday, they lost out on the bronze in the combined event by just 0.05.
Wilkie’s win brought Canada up to 10th in the medal standings with two gold, three silver and six bronze through Day 7.
Canada’s Natalie Wilkie wins 2nd Para biathlon gold and 4th medal at Milano-Cortina Paralympics
Canada’s wheelchair curling team clinched a medal (colour TBD) with a wild 8-7 win over South Korea in the semifinals. The Canadians, who went a record 9-0 in the preliminary round, trailed 7-5 going into the final end — with Korea holding the hammer. But Canadian skip Mark Ideson nailed a lovely hit-and-roll with his last rock to sit three, and his Korean counterpart botched the final throw to give Canada a miraculous win. Ideson’s team will face China for the gold on Saturday.
Canada’s Para hockey team will play the United States for gold on Sunday after defeating China 4-2 in the semifinals. Dominic Cozzolino scored the go-ahead goal with 6:07 left in the third period, Liam Hickey added the insurance marker, and captain Tyler McGregor had two goals in the first period. The defending-champion U.S. trounced Czechia 6-1.
Canada advances to gold medal Para ice hockey final as McGregor scores twice in win over China
The team sports will take centre stage over the final two days as Canada plays for gold in wheelchair curling and Para hockey.
The wheelchair curling final on Saturday at 10:05 a.m. ET pits Canada against perennial power China, which has captured back-to-back Paralympic golds and four of the last six world titles under skip Wang Haitao. Canada took bronze at each of the past two Paralympics as well as last year’s world championship, where China beat them in the semifinals. But the Canadians won their round-robin matchup on Tuesday 9-4.
Canada steals 3 in the final end to stun South Korea and advance to Paralympic gold-medal match
The Para hockey final on Sunday at 11:05 a.m. ET matches Canada against the United States for the third straight time. The Americans won 2-1 in overtime in 2018 in South Korea before blanking Canada 5-0 in 2022 in Beijing to capture their fourth straight Paralympic gold. The U.S. has also won four of the last five world championships, with Canada beating them 2-1 in the 2024 final in Calgary before the Americans dominated last year’s final in Buffalo 6-1.
In cross-country skiing, Wilkie has a chance to add two more medals. She’s expected to be part of Canada’s four-person team in the mixed 4×2.5-kilometre relay on Saturday at 5 a.m. ET, and on Sunday she’ll go for her third individual gold of the Games in the women’s standing 20km interval start at 5:20 a.m. ET.
Brittany Hudak gives Canada another medal contender in the women’s standing 20km after taking bronze in the 15K at the 2022 Paralympics in Beijing and bronze in the 10K on Wednesday.
Arendz is expected to join Wilkie in the mixed relay on Saturday and will race the men’s standing 20K interval start on Sunday at 5:30 a.m. ET.
In alpine skiing, Canada’s best medal hope in Saturday’s women’s slalom races is Michaela Gosselin in the standing category. She’s still looking for her first Paralympic medal despite eight top-nine finishes over the last two Games. The first run in the various categories starts at 4 a.m. ET and the second run goes at 8 a.m. ET.
On Sunday, Eriksson and Smith have one more shot to win their third medal of the Games in the men’s vision-impaired slalom. Their two runs begin at 4 a.m. ET and 7 a.m. ET.
The Games officially come to an end with the closing ceremony at the curling arena in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Along with daily afternoon and evening broadcasts on the CBC TV network, you can stream all of the action from the Milan-Cortina Games live and on demand exclusively on the free CBC Gem app. For a full listing of what’s on each day, see the CBC Paralympics streaming and broadcast schedule.
