Para sport notebook: Paddler Mathieu St-Pierre latest Para athlete to win world title

GYOR, Hungary – For the second straight week, the Canadian national anthem was played at a world championship for Para athletes.

This time it was two-time Paralympian Mathieu St-Pierre of Shawinigan, Que., who stood atop the podium at the Para canoe marathon world championships for his victory in the VL2 10 kilometre race.

“I’m really happy,’’ Mathieu St-Pierre told Sportcom about his victory in Gyor, Hungary.

‘’I’ve been waiting to compete in the World Marathon Championships for a while. I agreed with my coach at the beginning of the year that I would be there. We adapted my training throughout the season to combine sprinting and marathon running.’’

St-Pierre also won bronze in the KL1 six-kilometre race.

Lyne Tremblay of Magog, Que., a three-time Paralympian in Para archery and Para shooting, added bronze medals in the women’s VL1 and KL1 six kilometre races.

Great start for Canadians in world championship cluster

Canadians are sparkling so far at 2025 world championships in Para sport.

Last week at the Paracycling road world championships, Paralympic Games medallist Alexandre Hayward notched gold and bronze while Team Canada took silver at the inaugural women’s world Para ice hockey championships.

More Canadians will be in contention for world championship medals at the Para swimming worlds September 21-27 in Singapore; the Para cycling track worlds October 16-19 in Rio; the Para athletics worlds September 27-October 5 in New Delhi and the Para triathlon worlds October 15-19 in Wollongong, Australia.

Ciobanu leads Canada to two bronze at boccia World Cup

Iulian Ciobanu took bronze in the men’s BC4 singles then combined forces with Alison Levine for third place in the BC4 pairs competition at a boccia World Cup stop in Seoul.

The BC4 pairs was a straight round robin competition, and the Montreal duo went 2-2 to finish third behind Great Britain in first and Malaysia.  The Canadians assured themselves the bronze with an 8-1 victory over Hong Kong in their final match Monday.

In men’s BC4 individual, Ciobanu needed a dramatic 4-3 victory over Yuk Wing Leung of Hong Kong in the preliminary round to get second in his pool to advance to the semis.

However, he fell 5-2 to eventual champion Abdul Razzaq of Malaysia before he edged Stephen Mcguire of Great Britain 3-2 in the bronze medal match.

‘’Iulian has developed a very consistent game,’’ said Canada’s head coach Cesar Nicolaï to Boccia Canada.  ‘’He has rediscovered the style of play that brings him success and was able to perform at his best here at this World Cup.

Ciobanu’s result was also Canada’s first ever individual medal on Asian soil and his first World Cup podium since 2023.

Levine narrowly missed her opportunity to advance to the semi-finals as the top three in her pool won two games each, but she defeated world number one Yuen Cheung from Hong Kong.

 “It would have been nice to come home with the physical representation of a job well done (the medal), but alas, I know that I still accomplished my goal here,’’ said Levine, like Ciobanu, a two-time Paralympian.