Natalie Wilkie golden again for Canada on final day of Para biathlon

Natalie WIlkie’s star continues to grow and shine.

The pride of Salmon Arm, B.C., captured her second gold medal of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games on Friday, this time in the women’s sprint pursuit standing. It is Wilkie’s fourth medal of these Games: two golds, a silver, and a bronze.

The 25-year-old superstar finished with a final time of 12:18.0, 17.7 seconds ahead of silver-medalist Iryna Bui of Ukraine (12:35.7). Bui’s compatriot Oleksandra Kononova (12:49.0) rounded out the podium, winning bronze.

“This used to be my most hated race format,” Wilkie said following the sprint pursuit. “After the qualifier today (3rd), I knew I had a good shot, and it was just a matter of putting it all together.”

Wilkie was one of two Canadian flag-bearers at the Games’ opening ceremony, and she has amassed more than a third of Canada’s medal tally through Day 7. She has donned glitter on her face throughout the games, adding extra gold to a golden day.

“The glitter reminds me that I’m here to have fun,” Wilkie told the CPC. “Both times I put on gold glitter, I won the race.”

Prince Albert, Sask.’s, Brittany Hudak finished the sprint  pursuit in ninth (13:51.3). She won her fourth career Paralympic medal, a bronze in cross-country skiing on Wednesday.

On the men’s side, Hartsville, P.E.I’s Mark Arendz finished fourth in the standing sprint pursuit, finishing 4.5 seconds shy of the bronze medalist, Germany’s Marco Maier. China’s Cai Jiayun won gold, and Ukraine’s Grygorii Vovchynskyi took home silver.

The 14-time Paralympic medalist has won a bronze and silver at these Games, and has been dominant in the biathlon for years, winning two Paralympic golds and five World Championship golds across all distances.

“Everyone is stepping up,” said an emotional Arendz after the race about the rest of the field. “I knew that they were going to catch up, and I take pride that that is the standard I’m setting now.”

In the men’s sprint pursuit sitting, Smoky Lake, Alta., native Derek Zaplotinsky finished 20th.

“Now that biathlon is done for the year, I can focus on skiing,” Zaplotinsky told the CPC.

Para Nordic action wraps up on Saturday, with mixed and open Para cross-country skiing finals scheduled for 5 a.m. ET and 6:15 a.m. ET respectively.