{"id":524378,"date":"2026-03-09T10:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T10:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/524378\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T10:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T10:51:16","slug":"b-c-s-natalie-wilkie-takes-home-canadas-1st-gold-at-winter-paralympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/524378\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C.\u2019s Natalie Wilkie takes home Canada\u2019s 1st gold at Winter Paralympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Natalie Wilkie won Canada\u2019s first gold medal at the Milan Cortina Paralympics<\/a> on Sunday with a first-place finish in the women\u2019s standing para-biathlon competition.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Wilkie, from Salmon Arm, B.C., finished in 33 minutes 1.8 seconds, more than a half-minute ahead of China\u2019s Zhao Zhiqing (33:33.5). Ukraine\u2019s Oleksandra Kononova took bronze in 33:37.9.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the fourth career Paralympic gold medal for the Canadian flag-bearer and her ninth Paralympic medal overall. She won silver in the women\u2019s standing sprint on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is pretty unreal,\u201d Wilkie said. \u201cSilver was pretty awesome yesterday, but the gold today is even better. It all came together today. It\u2019s just a race like any other race, but when you add in the crowds and everything that goes along with the Paralympic Games, it all just feels like such a bigger event.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do feel like I\u2019ve had enough exposure at events like this that I was able to still lock in.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Also Sunday, Mark Arendz of Hartsville, P.E.I., claimed silver in the men\u2019s race for his 13th career Paralympic medal. China\u2019s Jiayun Cai won gold and Germany\u2019s Marco Maier earned bronze.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHearing the split halfway through the race that I was only in 10th place, that\u2019s not something I\u2019m used to,\u201d Arendz said. \u201cBut it\u2019s also something I can go to the back pocket and pull out, knowing I\u2019ve been here before and using that experience to just keep pushing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I can outski a lot of the guys over the distance and keep my head in the game on the range, and that\u2019s what really helped.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tyler Turner of Campbell River, B.C., earned bronze in the men\u2019s SB-LL1 snowboard cross as Canada\u2019s medal total rose to six (1-3-2).<\/p>\n

Turner, who won gold four years ago, got tangled up with Japanese rider Junta Kosuda in the final. Turner crossed the line fourth, but a post-race review determined Turner should be awarded the bronze.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe run is going to weigh heavily on me for a while but that\u2019s racing,\u201d Turner said. \u201cWe talk about it all the time: the chaos, the crashes, everything. Unfortunately sometimes you have to be a part of it and today I was. I\u2019m proud to still have taken a medal.\u201d<\/p>\n

In wheelchair curling, Mark Ideson\u2019s squad improved to 3-0 with a pair of victories. Canada scored three in the eighth end for a 5-4 victory over Great Britain before dumping Norway 9-2 later in the day.<\/p>\n

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The Canadian Paralympic Committee also confirmed that para-alpine skier Mollie Jepsen of West Vancouver, B.C., would no longer compete at the Games due to a knee injury.<\/p>\n

The six-time Paralympic medallist was able to finish the women\u2019s downhill standing competition on Saturday despite the leg issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m incredibly grateful for the team around me and all the support that I received to get back here,\u201d said Jepsen. \u201cAnd beyond that, being part of such an elite group that helped me return to the start gate with confidence in the downhill was something really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to cheer on team Canada from the stands and watch my teammates continue to compete out there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Competition continues through March 15.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Natalie Wilkie won Canada\u2019s first gold medal at the Milan Cortina Paralympics on Sunday with a first-place finish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,206461,66,82],"class_list":["post-524378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-paralympics","tag-science","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}