Para alpine skier Michaela Gosselin achieved her dream of earning her first Paralympic medal with bronze on Day Nine of the Games, after narrowly missing the podium in Beijing, while the Canadian Para nordic athletes missed the podium on Saturday.
Meanwhile the country’s wheelchair curling team reclaimed their gold medal in a win against China.
Here is a full breakdown of all the events you may have missed over the weekend.
Paralympics: Day Nine (March 14)
Para alpine skiing
In the first run of the women’s slalom standing final, Michaela Gosselin earned the country’s best finish of the event in third place, with a time of 44.05. Joining her on the podium was Varvara Voronchikhina of Russia in first place, while China’s Zhu Wenjing took silver.
Florence Carrier also represented the maple leaf on the slopes, finishing 11th by the end of the first run.
In the final run of the event Gosselin earned bronze with a time of 45.14, after Sweden’s Ebba Aarsjoe straddled the gate, disqualifying her from the race. This is the Collingwood, Ont., natives first Paralympic medal after competing in nine races across two Winter Games.
Gosselin also made history for Canada, winning the 200th medal overall for the country in Paralympic Winter Games history.
Meanwhile Carrier crossed the finish line in the same spot, putting her way out of contention for a medal.
Why was Russia allowed to compete
Russia was eligible to compete in the 2026 Paralympics after the majority of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) members voted to bring back Russia and Belarus into the competition - a vote the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) heavily opposed.
This eventually forced the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) to facilitate the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes, after a decision made by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in December.
This allowed both Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their own flags and hear their own anthems during the Games. Only 10 athletes (four from Belarus and six from Russia) were authorized to contend in the Paralympics after a background check.
Para cross-country skiing
In the mixed 4 x 2.5 km relay event, Canada’s Mark Arendz, Derek Zapoltinsky, Collin Cameron and Natalie Wilkie finished fifth with a time of 24:15.1.
Team USA’s Oksana Masters, Sydney Patterson, Jake Adicoff and Josh Sweeney defended their Beijing 2022 title topping the podium once again. They powered through what was a highly competitive race to cross the finish line at 23:24.2, ahead of Ukraine who took silver with a time of 23:36.7 while the People’s Republic of China finished 19.8 seconds behind them to secure bronze.
Wheelchair curling
Canada’s wheelchair curling team played in the mixed tournament final against China on Saturday and finished the game in an exhilarating 4-3 victory. This win allowed Team Canada to exit the 2026 Winter Paralympics undefeated with an historic 11-0 record - they were the first team to complete the preliminary round undefeated, 9-0.
Nicknamed the “Cardiac Canadians” by lead Collinda Joseph’s brother, the Canadians kept the game tightly contested against the Chinese, trading one point through eight ends.
To snatch the win from Team China and break the 3-3 tie, skip Mark Ideson launched the final rock with 2.8 seconds left to avoid the automatic forfeit and knock it in for the win.
Paralympics: Day 10 (March 15)
Canada’s Kalle Eriksson and his guide Sierra Smith captured the country’s fourth medal of the Milano Cortina Winter Games in alpine skiing, while other Canadian athletes missed the podium in the Para cross-country skiing events.
Meanwhile in Para ice hockey, the Canadian men lost to the Americans in the final to take home silver. This was the first Games that Canada has lost to the U.S. in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Para alpine skiing
In the first run of the men’s slalom visually impaired event, Kalle Eriksson earned the country’s best finish of the event in third place alongside his guide Sierra Smith, as the sole Canadians in the race.
Eriksson and Smith took their time down a course with foggy conditions that made it hard to see the guide at times. Nonetheless, the two of them made it down just in time to take the last spot on the podium with a time of 46.45.
Poland’s Michal Golas and Italy’s Giacomo Bertagnolli joined him on the podium, taking the first and second spot respectively.
When it was time to contend for a medal, Eriksson and Smith improved by 1.64 seconds to take bronze, while Italy’s Giacomo Bertagnolli secured gold and Poland’s Michal Golas secured silver.
Meanwhile, in the first run of the men’s slalom sitting event, fellow Canadian Kurt Oatway finished fifth, recording his best result of the day. But when it was time to take a shot at a medal Oatway missed the podium by a mile, ending his day in 11th with a time of 45.94.
Previously in the Games he had criticized the snow conditions in Milano Cortina when he said, “these Games need to be held a month earlier,” in an interview with the CBC’s Devin Heroux.
“Every year it’s soft, it’s slush, it’s you know spring skiing, and that’s not really real ski racing,” Oatway said.
“You need solid, hard conditions where you can do what you want rather than getting pushed around by a surface,” he said.
Para cross country skiing
In the Para cross country events for the day, no Canadians made the podium to add to the country’s medal count.
In the men’s 20km free visual impaired event, Canada’s Jesse Bachinsky and Logan Lariviere finished 14th and with a DNS respectively, while Madison Mullin also recorded a DNS for the Canadian women.
Then in the women’s 20km free standing race, co-flag-bearer Natalie Wilkie ended her day in sixth place, marking the worst result for her since the Paralympics began. Through 10 days of competition Wilkie accumulated two gold, one silver, and one bronze, bringing her medal total to 11.
If she would have won her last two races, the Salmon Arm, B.C., native would have tied the late Lana Spreeman as Canada’s most decorated female Paralympian with 13 medals.
Wilkie’s fellow teammates Emma Archibald and Brittany Hudak also ended their days on disappointing results with a DNS each.
Later in the day Collin Cameron, Leo Sammarelli and Derek Zapoltinsky represented the maple leaf in the men’s 20km sitting final. The three of them also completed their races with poor performances in 10th, 27th, and a DNS respectively.
On the women’s side, Christina Picton accomplished the course in 11th at best for Canada with a time of 1:10:53.8, while her fellow teammate Lyne-Marie Bilodeau placed 17th.
This was the second-straight day where Team Canada had gone without a medal in the Para nordic events. The last time the Canadians won a medal in the sport was on March 13, when Wilkie took gold in the women’s sprint pursuit standing.
Para ice hockey – Canada vs U.S.
In the Para ice hockey finals, everyone pitched in on Team Canada in an effort to claim the gold medal, but they came up short against Team USA.
The Americans defeated the Canadians in a commanding 6-2 victory at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Both sides entered the match undefeated through four games. However, the U.S. played with more urgency on the ice, resulting in a five-peat.
Liam Hickey scored both goals for Canada, with the first coming off an assist from Team Canada’s captain, Tyler McGregor and forward Dominic Cozzolino. Hickey’s second goal, which came at the beginning of the third was unassisted.
Meanwhile on the American side Jack Wallace led his team with a hat trick, while Kayden Beasley and Declan Farmer added one more each.
Then to add more insurance, Brody Roybal netted the game-winner to end the night on a score of 6-2.
With the loss the men earned their third consecutive silver in the Games and their 15th Paralympic medal in program history. This was also the first time in Paralympic history that the Canadians have lost to the U.S. in both the Paralympic Olympic Games.
The last time Canada won gold was in the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy.
Final medal count at the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games
After ten days of competition the Canadian delegation walked away with 15 medals from Italy.
Team Canada earned three gold, four silver and eight bronze medals, with the most being accumulated by the Para nordic and Para alpine skiing teams. The athletes secured seven medals in the Para nordic events while the Para alpine skiing team captured five of their own.
This puts the Canadians in eighth place of the medal standings at the end of the Games in Milano Cortina. China, the U.S. and Russia led the medal standings with 44, 24 and 12 medals respectively.
