Mathieu St-Pierre Mathieu St-Pierre

Mathieu St-Pierre notched a third Paralympic Games quota spot for Canada in 2024 with a seventh place finish at the world championships in the men’s VL2. That was one spot better than in 2023 and equalled his result from the 2022 worlds.

In 2022, he earned his first international victory with gold at a World Cup event in Poznan, Poland.

St-Pierre was fifth in his Paralympic Games debut at Tokyo 2020, a result he matched at the worlds that year. He earned his first career Paralympic Games spot in May 2021 with a fifth-place finish in the VL2 200-m at a Word Cup event in Hungary.

The 2021 results were also the best international results of his career at that point despite the fact he missed two months of training in the winter due to hip ulcers which required a skin graft.

After the operation his hip was two inches thicker and a fundraiser was held to help him get a new seat for his boat.

He has competed at six world championships in Para canoe. He also placed seventh in 2018 and was 11th in 2019.  He joined the national team in 2017.

Growing up on the shores of the Rivière St-Maurice, paddling has been part of St-Pierre’s life since he was a youth.

Before his accident in February 2015, St-Pierre was an avid paddler and competed in 200 kilometre races that often took over 10 hours to complete and included a half dozen portages. One of the highlights of his life was completing a marathon event as a paraplegic.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 World Championships… 2021 Paralympic Games…

PERSONAL

Seriously injured in a logging accident in February 2015. He was put under a medical induced coma and placed on a ventilator to assist with breathing. He was back paddling in May…  One of his hobbies is pyrography (drawing on wood)

NOTABLE INTERNATIONAL RESULTS

• 2024 World Championships VL2 200m 7th
• 2023 World Championships VL2 200m 8th
• 2022 World Championships VL2 200m 7th
• 2021 Paralympic Games VL2 200m 5th
• 2021 World Championships VL2 200m 5th
• 2019 World Championships VL2 200m 11th
• 2018 World Championships VL2 200m 7th