Gold for Wilkie, Arendz, silver for Zaplotinsky at Para biathlon worlds

POKLJUKA, Slovenia – Natalie Wilkie and Mark Arendz each collected a second gold and Derek Zaplotinsky added a silver on Sunday as Canada completed a magnificent performance at the Para biathlon world championships.

Canada ended the event with four gold, a silver and a bronze.

Persistence paid off for Wilkie who overcame a shaky start to win the women’s standing 12.5 kilometre race in 40 minutes and 20.3 seconds, missing one of 20 targets shooting.

Zhao Zhiqing of China was second in 40:40.8 and Oleksandra Kononova of Ukraine third in 40:46.9. Brittany Hudak of Prince Albert, Sask., was fourth in 41:14.4.

“I definitely felt the intensity of the race,’’ said Wilkie of Salmon Arm, B.C. ‘’Unfortunately, I had a miss in the first round, and I honestly thought I was out of the race at that point. But with four shooting stages, I told myself not to give up.’’

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Wilkie, a double cross country skiing champion at the 2022 Beijing Paralympics, said she caught a break in the last round of shooting.

‘’ In the final round shooting I heard Kononova miss and I just focused on putting my head down and skiing until my vision started to blur.

‘’It all turned out really well for me.’’

Arendz, an 11-time Paralympic Games medallist from Hartsville, PEI notched his third medal of the championships with a victory in the men’s standing 12.5 kilometre.

He was 27 seconds ahead of Benjamin Daviet of France in second. Grygorii Vovchynskskiy of Ukraine was third.

‘’I’ve been kind of on edge due to mistakes from my previous races and today was the time to turn it right,’’ said Arendz, perfect once again shooting. ‘’This is my race but the guys were competitive and it was only at the end that I knew I had the performance.’’

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Zaplotinsky was only seven seconds behind winner Yerbol Khamitov of Kazahstan in the men’s sitting 12.5 kilometre with both racers flawless shooting. Aaron Pike of the U.S. was third.

The race remained tense until the very end. Initially, Zaplotinsky posted the fastest times, but after the fourth shooting, Khamitov took the lead, gaining a five-second advantage over both the American and the Canadian.

The Canadian Para nordic team now heads to Toblach, Italy for the Para cross country skiing world championships which run Wednesday to Friday this week.

Canadian medallists at the Para biathlon world championships

Gold (4)

Mark Arendz, Hartsville, PEI: men’s standings 7.5 kilometre and 12.5 kilometre

Natalie Wilkie, Salmon Arm, B.C.: women’s standing 7.5 kilometre and 12.5 kilometre

Silver (1)

Derek Zaplotinsky, Smoky Lake, Alta.: men’s sitting 12.5 kilometre

Bronze (1)

Arendz: men’s standing pursuit