Para cross-country skier Natalie Wilkie positioned a bow on 2024 with a World Cup triumph on Friday on the season-opening drop in Vuokatti, Finland.
The 23-year-old from Salmon Arm, B.C., gained the 10-kilometre mass start race within the females’s standing group, finishing 8 secs upfront of Norway’s Vilde Nilsen with a time of 32 minutes 44.8 secs.
Fellow Canadian Paralympian Brittany Hudak ( 34:28.3) missed out on the platform by one place behind China’s Zhao Zhiqing after a dash floor.
Wilkie, a seven-time Paralympic medallist, is off to a strong start in each the cross-country and biathlon strategies. She took house silver within the dash customary on Tuesday behind Nilsen, along with 2 biathlon gold medals to open up the interval in Vuokatti.
Mark Arendz of Hartsville, P.E.I., caught his fifth common medal in Vuokatti with bronze within the guys’s standing mass start, going throughout the floor in 31:34.5. It was a 1-2 Chinese accomplished with Wang Chenyang declaring gold upfront of countrymate Liu Xiaobin in 29:55.2.
The 34-year-old Arendz, that moreover accomplished third in Tuesday’s dash customary, leads the overall World Cup positions in his group with 273 elements — 18 elements upfront of Wang.
The cross-country World Cup interval returns toFeb 1-2 in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
ENJOY l Arendz needs to degree up this era:
Canadian Para biathlete is inspired by final interval’s success.
