Kalle Eriksson was the first Canadian to reach the podium alongside his guide Sierra Smith with silver on Day One of the Paralympic Games in Milano Cortina, while most Canadian athletes also topped the podium in other alpine skiing and para biathlon events.
Meanwhile the country’s Para ice hockey team also began their quest to reclaim gold with a massive shutout win against Slovakia.
Here is a full breakdown of all the events you may have missed over the weekend.
Olympics: Day One (March 7)
Para alpine skiing
Kalle Eriksson competed in the men’s downhill visual impaired event to make it all the way to the podium in his Paralympic debut.
Eriksson, and his guide Sierra Smith, skied through a challenging course to make it past the hometown hero Giacomo Bertagnolli for silver. Austria’s Johannes Ainger was the only one who managed a faster time with 1:16.08, to capture gold.
At the age of 19 the Kimberley, B.C. native began to lose his vision in 2023 from a rare case of solar retinopathy while skiing on a glacier in northern Sweden.
Meanwhile in the men’s downhill sitting event Kurt Oatway and Brian Rowland were the only two competitors to represent Canada.
Oatway was the only Canadian to record a time and make it to the podium. He took bronze after recording a time that was 18 seconds slower than the Netherlands’ Neils de Langen. Norway’s Jesper Pedersen took gold with a time of 1:18.14.
However, Rowland was one of 11 athletes to record a Did Not Finish (DNF) after his momentum got the best of him, causing him to spin out less than a minute into his race.
Para biathlon
In the women’s sprint visually impaired event, Madison Mullin finished 10th as the only Canadian representative in the event.
Yue Wang of China finished with the best time (19:52.5) to take the gold medal, while Czechia’s Carina Edlingerova clinched silver being 32.5 seconds behind her and Germany’s Leonie Walter secured bronze.
Meanwhile in the men’s sprint standing event Mark Arendz, the sole Canadian to compete in the event, finished in fifth-place.
The women did significantly better as Natalie Wilkie took the second block on the podium in between two Ukrainian athletes. Her teammate Brittany Hudak also competed in the event and finished her day in sixth place with a time of 19:43.3.
Later in the day Collin Cameron and Derek Zapoltinsky competed in the men’s sprint sitting event. The two of them missed the podium by a mile, finishing 11th and 14th respectively.
On the women’s side the results weren’t much better. Christina Picton finished 10th as the only athlete to represent the Canadians.
Wheelchair curling
Canada played the host nation in mixed doubles on Saturday and won 9-8 in the first game of the preliminary round.
The commanding win against the Italians handed Canada a record of 1-0 to head into the second day of competition.
Para ice hockey – Canada vs Slovakia
With Para ice hockey captain Tyler McGregor leading Team Canada into the 2026 Paralympic Games, the team looked ready to make a statement on Day One of competition and they did just that.
James Dunn, Auren Halbert, McGregor and Vincent Boily scored a goal each in the first period alone in the well-executed matchup against the Slovakians, while Liam Hickey netted another with 9:31 left in the second.
After going up 6-0 through two periods, Dunn and Boily scored their second, while Dominic Cozzolino slotted one through a wide-open crease on the power play with 2:29 remaining.
Meanwhile, Slovakia got nothing going on their end of the ice except two penalties in regulation. Through three periods the reigning silver medalists' shutout Slovakia 8-0.
Para snowboarding
In the first round of the men’s snowboard cross SB-LL1 qualifiers, Canada’s Tyler Turner had the best result of the day, finishing first with a time of 52.56. Turner’s teammate Chase Jacob “C.J” Nicklin struggled significantly with the course, finishing the first round in 14th.
However, the second round ended in better results with Turner taking first place once again and Nicklin moving up one space to 13th. With those results, Turner was the top performer in the first day of competition.
The SB-LL1 classification is meant for athletes with significant impairments in one or both legs, such as an above-knee amputation.
Then in the first round of the men’s snowboard cross SB-LL2 qualifiers, Canada’s Alex Massie and Philippe Nadreau finished 8th and 9th respectively. However, there second round their results were significantly worse finishing their day in 11th and 15th.
The SB-LL2 classification is meant for athletes with lower-leg impairments that cause less activity limitation.
On the women’s side Sandrine Hamel was scheduled to compete as the only Canadian in the event. In the first round she recorded a Did Not Start (DNS) and 7th the second time around.
Olympics: Day Two (March 8)
Para nordic skier Natalie Wilkie delivered Canada's first gold medal on Day Two of the Winter Games, while Canada's men's and women's para snowboard teams also did well in their runs.
Meanwhile in wheelchair curling, the Canadians continued their strong showings with two commanding wins over their opponents to wrap up the second day of competition.
Para biathlon
In the men’s individual standing event, Mark Arendz flew past 17 competitors to secure silver as the only Canadian representative in the event.
Cai Jiayun of China finished with the best time (30:24.1) to capture gold, while Germany’s Marco Maier took home bronze.
On the women’s side Canada’s Natalie Wilkie put on an incredible performance through a course that had little room for error. Wilkie shot through two perfect rounds to cruise to the end the country’s gold medal drought just two days into the competition.
This was a complete turnaround compared to the Olympic Games where the Canadians fought through nine days of competition before Mikael “The King” Kingsbury ended the curse.
Later in the day Collin Cameron and Derek Zapoltinsky competed in the men’s individual sitting final. Unfortunately, the two of them missed out on the podium for a third time, reaching 7th and 24th place respectively.
It was the same story for the women in their event when Caroline Picton finished in the middle of the pack in 8th as the only women representing the Maple Leaf.
Para snowboarding
In the men’s snowboard cross SB-LL1 final, Canada’s Tyler Turner and Alex Massie were the only Canadians to contend for a medal.
Meanwhile their teammate C.J. Nicklin bowed out in the quarterfinals with a DNF.
For the women, Canada’s Sandrine Hamel placed third to miss out on qualifying for the semifinals.
Wheelchair curling
Canada played Norway in mixed doubles on Sunday, and won by a large margin, 9-2 in the preliminary round. This is the second win for Team Canada’s Jon Thurston, Mark Ideson, Ina Forrest, and Collinda Joseph after they kicked off the tournament against Italy 9-8 on Saturday.
Later in the day, they came back for one more against Great Britain (1-3), and were victorious over the British through eight ends, 8-6. This win allows Canada to remain undefeated throughout two days of the competition with a 3-0 record.
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