Canada kicked off the inaugural Para Biathlon World Championships with a pair of gold medals on Wednesday in Prince George, B.C.
Paralympic veterans Mark Arendz and Natalie Wilkie received the lads’s and ladies’s 7.5-kilometre standing dash occasions on the Caledonia Nordic Ski Membership.
The 33-year-old Arendz posted a time of 21 minutes 05.5 seconds to complete forward of Ukrainian Serhii Romaniuk (21:26) and Germany’s Marco Maier (21:58), who beat Arendz for Paralympic silver in 2022.
Wilkie of Salmon Arm, B.C., tied fellow Olympic gold medallist Liudmyla Liashenko of Ukraine for prime spot on the ladies’s dash podium after each biathletes clocked 24:11.3. Prince Albert, Sask., native Brittany Hudak claimed the bronze medal in 24:51.7.
In different Canadian outcomes, Derek Zaplotinsky of Smoky Lake, Alta., completed one spot off the rostrum within the males’s 7.5km sitting dash.
Bracebridge, Ont.’s Collin Cameron can also be competing in Prince George.
The Para biathlon worlds run by means of Sunday. The world championships will likely be adopted by the World Cup finals on the identical venue from March 13-17.
