Salmon Arm Paralympic nordic skier Natalie Wilkie won Canada’s first gold medal of the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Games over the weekend.
The 25-year-old athlete competed in the women’s individual standing 12.5-km biathlon, finishing in 33:01.8, just ahead of China’s Zhiqing Zhao at 33:33.5.
Wilkie also won a silver medal the day before in the women’s sprint standing biathlon with a time of 18:46.4, behind Ukraine’s Oleksandra Kononova, who finished in 18:41.5.
It marked Team Canada’s first gold medal of the 2026 Games.
“This is pretty unreal. Silver was pretty awesome yesterday, but the gold today is even better,” Wilkie said to the Canadian Paralympic Committee. “It all came together today. It’s just a race like any other race, but when you add in the crowds and everything that goes along with the Paralympic Games, it all just feels like such a bigger event. But I do feel like I’ve had enough exposure at events like this that I was able to still lock in.”
In addition to Wilkie’s gold, Team Canada has three silver medals and two bronze medals, totalling six medals so far.
