Team Canada has won three medals on the opening day of the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo. The medals came in para alpine skiing and para biathlon.
In para alpine skiing, Canada won two medals. Kalle Ericsson of Kimberley, British Columbia won the silver medal in the men’s downhill for athletes who were visually impaired. Ericsson had a time of 1:18.33. Johannes Aigner of Austria won the gold medal with a time of 1:16.08. Giacomo Bertagnolli of Italy won the bronze medal with a time of 1:18.64. Ericsson reached the podium by 2.98 seconds over Neil Simpson of Great Britain, who had a fourth place time of 1:21.31.
In men’s downhill sitting, Kurt Oatway of Calgary, Alberta won the bronze medal with a time of 1:19.42. Jesper Pedersen of Norway won the gold medal with a time of 1:18.14. Niels de Langen of the Netherlands won the silver medal with a time of 1:19.24. Oatway reached the podium by 1.11 seconds. Rene De Silvestro of Italy finished in fourth place with a time of 1:20.53. This was Oatway’s second Paralympic medal as he won gold in the men’s super giant slalom sitting event at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
In women’s sprint standing biathlon, Natalie Wilkie of Salmon Arm, British Columbia won the silver medal with a time of 18:46.4. Oleksandra Kononova of Ukraine won the gold medal with a time of 18:41.5. Liudmyla Liashenko won the bronze medal with a time of 19:13.9. Wilkie reached the podium by 33.4 seconds over Sydney Peterson of the United States, who had a fourth place time of 19:19.8. Wilkie has now won eight Paralympic medals, but this is her first in para biathlon, as the other seven came in para cross country skiing.
In men’s para ice hockey, Canada blanked Slovakia 8-0 on a two save shutout by Corbin Watson of Kingsville, Ontario. James Dunn of Wallacetown, Ontario and Vincent Boily of Alma, Quebec had two goals each. The other Canadian goal scorers were Auren Halbert of Calgary, Alberta, Tyler McGregor of Forest, Ontario, Liam Hickey of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Dominic Cozzolino of Mississauga, Ontario.
Finally, in mixed wheelchair curling, Canada won their first game. They defeated Italy 9-8.
