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Para alpine skier Kalle Eriksson and guide Sierra Smith took silver in the men’s visually impaired downhill competition for Canada’s first medal of the Milano-Cortina Paralympics on Saturday in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
The duo clocked a time of one minute 18.33 seconds at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre to reach the podium in their Paralympic debut.
“Both me and Sierra are on top of the world right now and still pumping. I can’t believe our run and I’m so proud of how we did it,” Eriksson said.
Smith shared in Eriksson’s pride after the run.
“It definitely wasn’t perfect but we hit the points we wanted to, and we skied very strong,” she said. “We had a good run overall, obviously always room to improve. I’m super happy with our performance today.”
Austria’s Johannes Aigner and Nico Haberl finished 2.25 seconds ahead of them for gold, while Italy’s Giacomo Bertagnolli and Andrea Ravelli took bronze in 1:18.64.
WATCH | Eriksson, Smith ski to Paralympic silver in Italy:
Kalle Eriksson, Sierra Smith win silver for Canada’s 1st medal at Milano-Cortina Paralympics
Canadian Para alpine skier Kalle Eriksson and guide Sierra Smith secure silver at Milano-Cortina Games.
Eriksson, of Kimberley, B.C., and Ottawa’s Smith have only been competing together since 2022. They won silver medals in the slalom and giant slalom at last year’s world championships and have earned 22 career World Cup medals across three seasons.
The Canadians communicate through a two-way headset.
Calgarian sit-skier Kurt Oatway also reached the downhill podium for his classification, earning bronze with a time of 1:19.42. Norwegian Paralympic star Jesper Pedersen topped the podium in 1:18.14, followed by Dutch skier Niels de Langen (1:19.24).
Oatway’s medal comes after a serious crash at the 2022 Para Snow Sports World Championships in Lillehammer forced him to miss the Beijing Winter Games.
WATCH | Oatway claims downhill bronze:
Calgary’s Kurt Oatway wins Para downhill bronze in Milano-Cortina
Canada’s Kurt Oatway picked up bronze in Para downhill skiing (sitting) at the 2026 Paralympics in Milano Cortina.
Although the road back was long and arduous, Oatway said, after Saturday’s race, that he had no doubts about pursuing the Milano-Cortina Games.
“I had a bad crash: broke my collarbone, three ribs in five places, tore two ligaments and punctured a lung,” Oatway said.
“I was unfortunately taken out of China [for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games], and as soon as I was in the hospital, it was, ‘This isn’t the end, this isn’t how it ends’ … The road to coming back was long, but here I am, and I’ve got a piece of hardware to show for it.”
WATCH | Oatway elated after bounce-back bronze:
Calgary’s Oatway speaks of winning Para downhill bronze medal ‘on the biggest stage’
Canada’s Kurt Oatway captured a bronze medal in Para downhill skiing (sitting) at the 2026 Paralympics in Milano Cortina.
The 42-year-old refused to close the door on the 2030 Games in the French Alps.
“If I keep winning stuff, who knows? Maybe I’ll make another [Paralympic] cycle.”
Canadian medal hopeful Alexis Guimond registered a DNF in the men’s standing downhill after losing his balance while leaning into an early turn. The 26-year-old from Gatineau, Que., was able to ski off the course on his own.
Mollie Jepsen of West Vancouver, B.C., who took Paralympic gold four years ago in the women’s standing downhill, missed the podium Saturday by just 4.10 seconds in fourth place.
The 26-year-old revealed after the race that she re-aggravated a lower-body injury from a month ago and could be out for the remainder of the Games.
Wilkie claims biathlon silver
Para nordic star Natalie Wilkie added another silver for Canada shortly after Eriksson and Smith in the women’s standing sprint biathlon event.
The 25-year-old from Salmon Arm, B.C., posted a time of 18:46.4 over the 7.5-kilometre course while shooting clean through two rounds at the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium in Val di Fiemme.
“It doesn’t feel real. This was a big goal of mine heading into the Games, to win a medal in biathlon, and to do it on the first day is so special,” Wilkie said.
WATCH | Wilkie wins silver to secure 1st Para biathlon medal:
Canada’s Paralympic flag-bearer Natalie Wilkie skis to silver in standing sprint biathlon
Natalie Wilkie of Salmon Arm, B.C. finished second in the women’s standing sprint biathlon at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games.
Wilkie finished 4.9 seconds back of Ukraine’s Oleksandra Kononova, who was joined on the podium by countrymate Liudmyla Liashenko (19:13.9).
“It’s the biathlon I struggle with. Compared to my competitors, I’m quite a slow shooter and so the time I make up is out on the course,” Wilkie said after securing her first biathlon medal.
“I know I’m a pretty fast skier and today I felt really good. I was able to utilize that on the course.”
Wilkie is a three-time Paralympic champion in cross-country and is scheduled to compete five more times at these Games.
“There’s more races to come and I’m sure I’ll get a gold medal somewhere – I’m hoping at least,” she said with a laughed.
“I skied really hard, I worked hard in the range as well, and that was the 100 per cent that I came with today. I emptied the tank out there and I’m really happy with that.”
Wilkie celebrates after earning sprint biathlon silver on Saturday. (Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters)
Brittany Hudak of Prince Albert, Sask., finished sixth in 19:43.3.
Hartsville, P.E.I., native Mark Arendz, competing at his fifth Paralympics, was fifth in the men’s standing sprint.
Russia wins 1st medal in 12 years
Para alpine skiers Varvara Voronchikhina and Aleksei Bugaev won Russia’s first Paralympic medals since 2014 on Saturday by taking bronze in their respective races — the women’s and men’s downhill standing competition.
Russian athletes are back competing under their own flag in the Winter Paralympics at Milan Cortina — after years of having to do so as neutral athletes because of the country’s doping violations and military conflicts.
Voronchikhina raced in the discipline for visually impaired athletes and Bugaev in the discipline for athletes with impairment in one arm.
“For us, it’s a really long time when we [were] without [the] flag, and I’m really glad and all my country and all my teammates, we [are] glad also,” said Voronchikhina, who is expected to be competing for the gold in other races at Milan Cortina.
Russia’s national anthem could be played for gold medallists for the first time on the stage of a major global sporting event since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russian athletes were initially banned because of a state-sponsored doping program, and the sanctions had continued after the invasion.