Milano Cortina 2026 Day 1 Recap: Three medals for Canada to open Paralympic Winter Games

Paralympic Winter Games  
– Para alpine skiers Kalle Eriksson and guide Sierra Smith earn Canada’s first medal  
– Natalie Wilkie and Kurt Oatway also on the podium 
– Para ice hockey and wheelchair curling teams open with victories  

Cortina, Italy, March 7, 2026 – The Milano Cortina 2026 Canadian Paralympic Team started strong on the opening day of the Paralympic Winter Games, securing three podium finishes and opening victories in the team sports. Para alpine skiers Kalle Eriksson and guide Sierra Smith led the way for Canada with Paralympic veterans Natalie Wilkie and Kurt Oatway adding more hardware.  

MEDALS WON ON MARCH 7 

SILVER – Kalle Eriksson and guide Sierra Smith, Para alpine skiing, men’s visually impaired downhill  
SILVER – Natalie Wilkie, Para biathlon, women’s standing sprint 
BRONZE – Kurt Oatway, Para alpine skiing, men’s sitting downhill  

OVERALL MEDAL TOTAL 

GOLD – 0 
SILVER – 2 
BRONZE – 1 
TOTAL – 3 

RESULTS SUMMARY  

Para Alpine Skiing 
Kalle Eriksson and guide Sierra Smith made their Paralympic debuts in style, racing to silver in the men’s visually impaired downhill to earn Canada’s first medal of the Games. They finished in 1:18.33, 2.25 seconds behind first-place finishers Johannes Aigner and guide Nico Haberl of Austria.  

“My heart is pounding right now, I’m full of adrenaline; I can’t believe it,” said Eriksson. “I wasn’t expecting this from us today, so I’m very proud and really thrilled with how we did out there today.” 

“We are always working on that connection on the ski hill, the closer we work, the faster we’ll go,” said Smith of the duo’s teamwork. “We really executed that today; just trying to tighten that gap between us and move down the hill as one.”  

Sit skier Kurt Oatway made a triumphant return to the Paralympic stage, taking bronze in the men’s sitting category in a time of 1:19.42. A gold medallist in the super-G eight years ago, injury prevented him from competing at Beijing 2022.  

“I might be 42, but I’m not done yet!” said Oatway. “We’ll see, if I keep winning stuff, another cycle might show up sooner rather than later.” 

In the women’s standing, six-time Paralympic medallist Mollie Jepsen was fourth, just ahead of her teammate Michaela Gosselin in fifth. Alexis Guimond and Brian Rowland did not finish in their respective men’s standing and sitting categories.  

Para Nordic Skiing – Para Biathlon  
Canada’s Opening Ceremony flag bearer Natalie Wilkie earned her eighth career Paralympic Games medal and first in the sport of Para biathlon with a silver in the women’s standing sprint. With a time of 18:46.4, she finished 4.9 seconds behind gold medallist Oleksandra Kononova of Ukraine.   

“This is something I’ve been dreaming of leading up to the Paralympics, winning a medal in my first race,” said Wilkie. “Brian [McKeever, head coach] told me in the finish chute, this is a huge improvementfrom my last start in Beijing, where I think came 15th or something, or last or second-last, so getting the silver medal today is a huge improvement and I’m really happy with that.” 

Mark Arendz, competing in his fifth Paralympic Winter Games, was fifth in the men’s standing, Christina Picton finished 10th in the women’s sitting, Collin Cameron was 11^th and Derek Zaplotinsky 14^th in the men’s sitting, and first-time Paralympians Maddie Mullin and guide Brooke Ailey were 10th in their debut in the women’s visually impaired.  

Para Snowboard 
Tyler Turner had the fastest qualifying time in the men’s SB-LL1 snowboard cross with a best run of 51.72 seconds. The defending Paralympic champion, he will line up as the top seed in Sunday’s elimination races with medals up for grabs. 

In the same category, Chase Nicklin took the 15^th seed in his first Paralympic races while the men’s SB-LL2 saw three-time Paralympian Alex Massie in eighth and Paralympic debutant Philippe Nadreau in 10^th. Sandrine Hamel is ranked 10^th in the women’s SB-LL2 after the seeding runs.  

Each rider will race in Sunday’s play-off rounds.  

Wheelchair Curling 
Canada’s wheelchair curling squad held on for a 9-8 victory over host Italy to open its Paralympic tournament. Up 9-2 halfway through, the team withstood a strong comeback attempt by the Italians, who were buoyed by a cheering home crowd.  

“It’s always nice to get the first W and get it in the first game,” said Jon Thurston, at his second Paralympic Winter Games. “It was a fun game; it was an amazing atmosphere out there. The Italian crowd was there, and it was cool to have all the Canadian fans out there too cheering us on. Strong first half, we loved that first half, so we’ll take that any day. Italy made a lot of shots in the second half, and so we’lllook at some game tape, see what the coaches say and continue to learn and get better as the week goes on.” 

“It felt really good, then it felt a little bit less good, and then a lot of relief!” said Ina Forrest, who officially made her fifth straight Paralympic Winter Games appearance, the first in her sport to do so.   

Para Ice Hockey 
Tyler McGregor notched a goal and an assist as he suited up for his 200^th game for the national team in Canada’s 8-0 victory over Slovakia to open preliminary play. Teammates Liam Hickey, James Dunn, and Vincent Boily (in his Paralympic debut) added three points apiece while Greg Westlake made his sixth Paralympic Winter Games appearance.  

“The last four years have just been manifested into today. I’ve just been training so hard for this moment, I’m just really trying to appreciate every second of it,” said Paralympic rookie Auren Halbert, who scored a goal in his first Games appearance to put Canada up 2-0.  

“I was really happy about that [scoring]. It was nice to open up the goals for us and get pucks in the net.”  

CLICK HERE for the complete results on Saturday March 7.