BEIJING – In the long and short of it, Natalie Wilkie of Salmon Arm, B.C. is proving hard to beat at the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games after winning the women’s standing Para cross country sprint event for her second gold this week.
Wilkie, the victor in the 15-kilometre long distance event on Monday, produced a comeback win in the one-kilometre sprint as she blew by Norway’s Vilde Nilsen on the last straightaway in the final.
The one-poled Canadian’s winning time was 4:05.1, exactly three seconds faster than the Norwegian. Sydney Peterson of the U.S. was third in 4:12.1. Wilkie advanced to the final placing first in qualifying and in her semifinal heat.
It’s a fifth career Games medal for the 21-year-old Wilkie, who lost four fingers on her left hand in a school workshop accident in 2016.
