Best-ever Winter Games on the horizon for Canada!

Canadian Paralympic Team on Day 7:
Canada reaches 19 medals at PyeongChang 2018 

– Mark Arendz wins fourth medal in PyeongChang, his first Paralympic gold
– Collin Cameron captures second medal of these Games
– Brittany Hudak takes bronze in biathlon for first Paralympic medal
– Canada has now tied Vancouver 2010 for its most medals won at a Winter Games

PyeongChang, March 16, 2018 – Canada’s biathletes served up three more medals for Canada on the seventh day of competition at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games. Canada has now matched it total medals from Vancouver 2010, its most successful Winter Games, with 19. With at least one more guaranteed medal coming on Sunday – Canada will win either gold or silver in Para ice hockey – this will officially mark the nation’s most-ever medals won at a Paralympic Winter Games.

MEDAL CHART:
  
Gold – 6    Silver – 1    Bronze – 12    TOTAL – 19
                                       
TOP HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY: 
•    After already winning one silver and two bronze medals in PyeongChang, Mark Arendz (Hartsville, PEI) finally stood atop the podium on Friday, winning the gold medal in the men’s 15KM standing biathlon. He finished in 42 minutes, 52.2 seconds and didn’t miss a shooting target. Arendz now has the most hardware of any Canadian athlete at these Games, just ahead of Mollie Jepsen’s three medals. The 28-year-old has six career Paralympic medals including two from Sochi 2014.

“Every time I stepped on the podium this week, I kept thinking I want to hear Paralympic champion, and then my name announced. I wanted nothing more than to hear my country’s anthem played. I’ve seen the maple leaf on top of the podium three times this week, but to finally have it behind the top step of the podium for me is an amazing feeling.” – Mark Arendz
 
•    Collin Cameron (Sudbury, ON) who earlier in the week became the first Canadian man to ever win a medal in Para nordic sit skiing captured his second podium finish of these Games, a bronze in the men’s 15KM biathlon. This medal also comes on the heels of a narrow fourth-place finish in the cross-country sprints two days ago.   

“This is awesome. This one is the sweetest one for sure. That was a little redemption after the sprint day because I really wanted that one.” – Collin Cameron
“I got very little sleep last night. I just couldn’t seem to settle. My coach told me some of the best athlete performances have happened after a bad night of sleep. I told myself to just settle down. I got the bugs out in that first lap, focused on pacing in every lap and just kept pushing. I came here wanting to get on the podium in cross country, and I’m going home with two biathlon medals. I didn’t expect that at all.” – Collin Cameron
 
•    Brittany Hudak (Prince Albert, SK) is the first Canadian female biathlete to medal at these Games, taking home a bronze medal in the 12.5KM standing biathlon race. This is the 24-year-old’s first Paralympic medal in her second Games appearance. Earlier this week, she finished fifth in the 10KM biathlon event. Emily Young (North Vancouver, BC) ended the race in seventh, and helped push Hudak through her final lap to reach the podium.

“This is such an unreal day. There are so many emotions. I just tried to think about the process throughout the race. I wanted to focus on shooting because I knew it was going to make a difference today.” – Brittany Hudak

“I knew I was in the medal mix heading into that last lap. Everyone was screaming at me to keep going. Emily (Young) kept yelling at me the whole way around, and I just tried to hang onto her. I was breathing so hard and gave it everything I had. I was so tired at the finish and wanted to collapse.” – Brittany Hudak
 
•    It went down to the final rock, but Canada lost a heartbreaking 4-3 game to China in the wheelchair curling semifinals. The team, led by skip Mark Ideson (London, ON), will now play for the bronze medal against the host South Koreans. This means the PyeongChang Games will be the first time Canada does not win the gold medal since the sport made its Paralympic debut in 2006, but the team will improve upon its fifth-place finish from the world championships here a year ago.   

“You know what? I am proud. I’m really proud of the way that the team played. We put ourselves in a good position to medal and we played well.” – Mark Ideson

“We’ll start by going to see our families. That’s the important part. We’ll get some good rest, and some good nutrition, and debrief the game, we’ll give each other some hugs, and away we go.” – Ideson on the post-game plan
 
•    Canada’s best finish in Para snowboard’s banked slalom event saw Michelle Salt (Calgary, AB) and Sandrine Hamel (Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts, QC) both finish fifth in the lower-limb LL1 and LL2 classifications, respectively. Banked slalom was making its Paralympic debut.

“I’m very proud of what I accomplished. I’m happy I had the chance to have been the first person to represent my country in my category. There’s definitely room for improvement but I am excited to see what the future holds for me.” – Sandrine Hamel