{"id":536815,"date":"2026-03-14T23:11:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T23:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/536815\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T23:11:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T23:11:18","slug":"wilkie-ideson-named-canadas-flag-bearers-for-paralympics-closing-ceremony-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/536815\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilkie, Ideson named Canada\u2019s flag bearers for Paralympics closing ceremony \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>CORTINA D\u2019AMPEZZO \u2013 Para nordic skier Natalie Wilkie and wheelchair curler Mark Ideson have been named Canada\u2019s closing ceremony flag bearers for the Milan Cortina Paralympics, the Canadian Paralympic Committee announced Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Wilkie, from Salmon Arm, B.C., has earned four medals (two gold, one silver, one bronze) in her third Paralympics. She still has one race remaining on Sunday morning, the Para cross-country 20 kilometres.<\/p>\n<p>The 25-year-old now has 11 Paralympic medals to her name (five gold, three silvers, three bronze).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/69b5b06229fc3fd1c7af4e94jpeg.jpg\" data-pswp- data-pswp-width=\"8060\" data-pswp-height=\"5376\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/69b5b06229fc3fd1c7af4e94jpeg.jpg\" alt=\"Natalie Wilkie receives her gold medal for the 12.5km Individual Biathlon at the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games in Val di Fiemme on Sunday March 8, 2026. \/\/ Le 8 mars 2026, Natalie Wilkie re\u00e7oit la m\u00e9daille d'or de l\u2019\u00e9preuve individuelle de de biathlon 12,5 km aux Jeux paralympiques d\u2019hiver de 2026 \u00e0 Val di Fiemme. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Handout \u2013 CANADIAN PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE-Michael P. Hall (Mandatory Credit)\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNatalie Wilkie receives her gold medal for the 12.5km Individual Biathlon at the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games in Val di Fiemme on Sunday March 8, 2026. \/\/ Le 8 mars 2026, Natalie Wilkie re\u00e7oit la m\u00e9daille d&#8217;or de l\u2019\u00e9preuve individuelle de de biathlon 12,5 km aux Jeux paralympiques d\u2019hiver de 2026 \u00e0 Val di Fiemme. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Handout \u2013 CANADIAN PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE-Michael P. Hall (Mandatory Credit)<\/p>\n<p>She is the first Canadian athlete to be selected to be both opening and closing ceremony flag bearer at the same Paralympic Games.<\/p>\n<p>Ideson, from London, Ont., just led Canada to gold in wheelchair curling on Saturday, with a 4-3 win over China. It was Canada\u2019s first gold in the event since 2014.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tThe Warm-Up<\/p>\n<p class=\"frequency\">Winnipeg Jets Game Days<\/p>\n<p>On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"email-subscribe-link button the-warmup inline-block-logged-in\">Sign up for The Warm-Up<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/theWarm-up-tile.jpg\" alt=\"Sign up for The Warm-Up\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Canada also became the first country to ever complete the tournament undefeated.<\/p>\n<p>This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CORTINA D\u2019AMPEZZO \u2013 Para nordic skier Natalie Wilkie and wheelchair curler Mark Ideson have been named Canada\u2019s closing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-536815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536815","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=536815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}