Canada’s Wilkie wins biathlon gold, wheelchair curling team moves to gold-medal game

Natalie Wilkie wins gold in the Individual Biathlon in the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games in Val di Fiemme, Italy on Sunday March 8, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — CANADIAN PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE,

LAGO — Natalie Wilkie wasn’t so sure about her chances entering Friday’s race.

By the end, it went as well as it possibly could.

The Canadian nordic ski star earned her second gold and fourth medal of the Milan Cortina Paralympics with a win in the women’s biathlon standing sprint pursuit. Wilkie, from Salmon Arm, B.C., finished with a time of 12 minutes 18.0 seconds. 

Ukraine’s Iryna Bui (12:35.7) and Oleksandra Kononova (12:49.0) grabbed silver and bronze, respectively. Canadian Brittany Hudak placed ninth (13:51.3).

“This was the race I was most unsure about actually, just because in the sprint pursuit things can change, and so quickly too,” Wilkie said.

Despite the uncertainty, she had hope. In fact, she wore that hope in the form of gold glitter.

“I put it on this morning because I was really hoping for the gold. I knew it was going to be a special win if I got it,” she said.

Both of Wilkie’s gold medals in Italy have come in the biathlon. She came into the Games with seven Paralympic medals in Para nordic skiing but none in biathlon.

“I’ve struggled so much with this race format,” she added. “When it was introduced in 2023 I absolutely hated it, and for the last couple of years I’ve tried to avoid it and not do this race. Simply because I’m not a fast shooter and this race doesn’t favour slow shooters like me.

“Over the last two years, my coach forced me to start doing more sprint pursuits just so that I could get better at them, and it’s definitely paid off because on a day like today I was able to keep my focus and shoot clean and win the gold medal.”

In wheelchair curling action, Canada pulled off a comeback to defeat South Korea 8-7 in the semifinals and advance to Saturday’s gold-medal game. 

It was the second time in as many days Canada’s rink of skip Mark Ideson, third/vice-skip Jon Thurston, second Ina Forrest, lead Collinda Joseph, fifth Gilbert Dash topped South Korea.

The two sides were tied 4-4 after the fifth end. The Koreans, however, scored three in the sixth to put the pressure on Canada.

The Canadians trimmed the deficit with one point in the seventh, but scored three on a Ideson hit and roll in the final end to avoid another bronze-medal game. Canada won bronze at the last two Paralympics after winning gold in 2006, 2010 and 2014.

“The odds are not good in that scenario,” Ideson said of scoring three on the final end against the hammer. “But you know what? We’re a team that never gives up, we stay with it, we stay in it. We keep trying to make shots and keep trying to use the information we’ve learned throughout the game to play right to the last stone.” 

Canada will next face China, which has won the event at the last two Paralympics.

“We’ve been kind of angling on the bronze medal, so it’d be fantastic to get back to the top of the podium, and get the gold,” Forrest said. “We know we’re at the gates, so we have to bring the best game we can and prepare it again to just play right down to the final stone.”

Later Friday, Canada’s Para ice hockey team earned a 4-2 semifinal win over China to advance to the gold-medal game. 

Dominic Cozzolino scored the go-ahead goal 8:53 into the third period, with Liam Hickey adding the insurance goal less than two minutes later. Tyler McGregor scored Canada’s first two goals in the opening period.

“It feels amazing. That’s why we came here,” McGregor said. “We didn’t make it easy on ourselves, but that’s what this tournament should be like. It should be tough to get to a gold-medal game, and you should have to battle through adversity and try to find a way. Great teams have to find a way. And tonight, we did.”

The Canadians will face the United States — which defeated Czechia 6-1 in the other semifinal — for gold on Sunday. 

Canada has settled for silver at the last two Paralympics at the hands of the U.S. 

“It will be special,” McGregor said. ”They are our biggest rivals. They’ve taken a couple of gold medals away from us in the past couple of Paralympics, and it would obviously be special to get some revenge on them.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 13, 2026.