Para sport notebook: Canada has six entries for Para biathlon World Cup stop in Germany

OTTAWA – Canada will field six entries, including Paralympic Winter Games champions Mark Arendz and Natalie Wilkie, for the second stop on the Para biathlon World Cup circuit which gets underway on Thursday in Notshrei, Germany.

At the season opening event in Canmore, Alta., last month, the Canadians showed they are on target for a strong performance at the upcoming Paralympic Winter Games.

Both Arendz, a 12-time Games medallist from Hartsville, PEI and Wilkie, a seven-time Games medallist from Salmon Arm, B.C., swept gold in all three events in men’s and women’s standing races.

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 In addition, Collin Cameron of Bracebridge, Ont., took gold in the men’s sitting 10 kilometre while Brittany Hudak of Prince Albert, Sask., added a bronze in the women’s standing 10 kilometre.

Arendz, Wilkie and Hudak are all in Germany for this week’s World Cup along with Christina Picton of Fonthill, Ont., Derek Zaplotinsky of Smokey Lake, Alta., and visually impaired Maddie Mullin of Fergus, Ont., and her guide Brooke Ailey of Thunder Bay, Ont.

Cameron was hit with some hard luck once again as he was diagnosed with a concussion after slipping and falling last month and will miss the competition.

‘’I’ve been struggling to shake off the issues ever since,’’ said Cameron, a six-time Paralympic Games medallist. ‘’ To say I’m disappointed is an understatement. I know I’ll bounce back from this, and I’m grateful there’s still plenty of time before the Milano Cortina 2026 Games.’’

Para cyclist Shelley Gautier retires

Paralympic Games medallist and multiple world champion Shelley Gautier of Niagara Falls, Ont., announced her retirement late last month to conclude a brilliant career in Para cycling.

Gautier, 57, competed at three Paralympic Games (2012, 2016, 2020). At the 2016 Rio Games, she won the bronze medal in the women’s T1 individual time trial road race . She is also an 18-time world champion, her first gold back in 2009.

She was Canada’s co-flag bearer at the 2023 Parapan Am Games in Santiago, Chile.

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“I’m 57 years old, competing against younger athletes. And it’s really hard,” Gautier told Canadian Cycling Magazine.  “There comes a time to retire. I’ve been at it for 18 years, probably the longest career out of anyone, and I want to take some time to help other people—and myself.”

Off the road, Gautier founded the Shelley Gautier Para Sport Foundation to bring Para sport to more people with a disability. 

In 2001, Gautier was in a mountain biking accident and suffered a severe head injury leaving her in a coma for six weeks. She was diagnosed with hemiplegic (paralysis on one sides of the body). Within a year she was back on her bike again.

Gautier says she plans to continue racing locally and promote Para sport.

“Retiring and not retiring,” she said. “That’s what worked at the international level. So, it will work here at home. Hopefully, it will inspire more women to take up the sport in Canada.”