Canada wins first three medals of Paralympic Games

Kalle Eriksson and Sierra Smith at the medal ceremony in the Men’s Downhill VI at the 2026 Paralympic Games in Cortina, Italy on March 7, 2026 THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout – CANADIAN PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE, Angela Burger

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO -- Canada’s Kalle Eriksson and guide Sierra Smith enjoyed quite the start to their Paralympic debut on Saturday.

The pair got the ball rolling for Canada with its first of three medals of the day at the Milan Cortina Paralympic Games. Eriksson, a para alpine skier from Kimberley, B.C., and Smith, from Ottawa, grabbed silver in the men’s visually impaired downhill event in Eriksson’s Paralympic debut.

Eriksson clocked in a time of one minute 18.33 seconds, finishing behind Austria’s Johannes Aigner (1:16.08) and narrowly ahead of Italy’s Giacomo Bertagnolli (1:18.64) on the podium.

“Both me and Sierra are on top of the world right now and still pumping,” Eriksson said. “I can’t believe our run and I’m so proud of how we did it.”

“It definitely wasn’t perfect but we hit the points we wanted to, and we skied very strong,” Smith said. “We had a good run overall, obviously always room to improve. I’m super happy with our performance today.”

Calgary’s Kurt Oatway made it two medals for Canada when he earned bronze in the men’s downhill sitting ski event.

The 42-year-old narrowly missed silver, finishing the race in 1:19.42. Niels de Langen of the Netherlands placed second in 1:19.24. Norway’s Jesper Pederson was victorious in 1:18.14.

Para nordic star Natalie Wilkie, of Salmon Arm, B.C., collected her eighth medal at her third Paralympics with a silver in the women’s standing sprint biathlon event.

Wilkie had a time of 18:46.4 over the 7.5-kilometre course and went without a shooting penalty. Ukraine’s Oleksandra Kononova (18:41.5) and Liudmyla Liashenko (19:13.9) won gold and bronze, respectively.

Eriksson, 21, joined forces with Smith almost four years ago. He lost most of his vision from a rare case of solar retinopathy while skiing on a glacier in northern Sweden. He has just six per cent of peripheral vision.

Meanwhile, Smith, turning 26 on March 17, was a former national team skier who had retired in 2020. She was helping Eriksson’s team in Alberta in the years after but found herself back in action in becoming his guide and preferring it over coaching in the cold.

“He was really quick, and it was really fun and I realized I way preferred ski racing, then standing on the side of the hill and freezing my butt off coaching,” she told The Canadian Press in 2025.

The pair won two world championship silvers in 2025, in the slalom and giant slalom events.

It was quite the return for Oatway, who missed the 2022 Beijing Games due to a broken collarbone, two torn ligaments, three broken ribs in five places, and a punctured lung from a crash a month out from those Paralympics at world championships.

This was following his Paralympic debut in 2018 where he won gold in the super-G event.

“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’. So mostly I focused on dry land training, rehab, physiotherapy,” Oatway said.

“The road to coming back was long, but here I am, and I’ve got a piece of hardware to show for it. If I keep winning stuff, who knows? Maybe I’ll make another (Paralympic) cycle.”

For Wilkie, it was her first career biathlon medal at the Games. Her previous seven medals primarily came in individual and relay cross-country events.

“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.

“It’s the biathlon I struggle with,” she added. “Compared to my competitors, I’m quite a slow shooter and so the time I make up is out on the course. I know I’m a pretty fast skier and today I felt really good. I was able to utilize that on the course.”

Later in the day, Canada’s mixed wheelchair curling team survived a scare to pull off a 9-8 round-robin opening win over Italy. The Canadians held a 9-2 lead after just four ends before the Italians swiftly closed the gap.

“It felt really good -- and then it felt a little bit less good, a little less good and then ... woah, relief,” said second Ina Forrest.

“Well, they’re really good drawers and once they start playing that game you get a little deep, they get on top of you and it’s hard to get them out of there,” Forrest added. “They really have their draw game down pat.”

Canada did not have the same issue in hockey, however, cruising to an 8-0 win over Slovakia.

James Dunn and Vincent Boily led the way with two goals apiece, while Auren Halbert, Tyler McGregor, Liam Hickey and Dominic Cozzolino also scored for Canada.

The Canadians are looking to win the country’s first gold since 2006. The United States has won at the last four Paralympics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 7, 2026.