Five Canadians to keep an eye on during the Paralympics

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/03/2022 (1624 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brian McKeever, Canada’s most-medalled winter Paralympian, is easily the most recognizable face on Team Canada at the Beijing Paralympics.

These are his sixth Paralympics, after all. The 42-year-old cross-country skier is still a top medal contender at these Games, which open Friday. In that, he has plenty of company among Canada’s team of 49 athletes.

Canada has medal potential from the first event, downhill skiing on March 5, through to the final event, which Canada would dearly love to be in, the para ice hockey gold-medal match on March 13.

Here are five standouts to watch for in the coming days”

Mark Arendz

Hartsville, P.E.I.

Of all the medals Canada won at the 2018 Paralympics, the majority came in the nordic events of cross-country skiing and biathlon — and Arendz was the biggest contributor to that haul. He hit the podium in every single event he raced in and his six Paralympic medals set a record for the most medals won by a Winter Paralympian in a single Games. The 32-year-old, who lost an arm in a farming accident when he was seven, competes in both cross-country and biathlon events.

Sandrine Hamel

St-Sauveur, Que.

Hamel discovered para snowboarding watching a commercial on TV and never looked back. The 25-year-old, who was born with a curved spine and suffered a paralyzed leg during corrective surgery, made her Paralympic debut in 2018. This past January, at the 2022 World Para Snow Sports Championships, she won gold in the women’s team event and bronze in banked slalom.

Liam Hickey

St. John’s, N.L.

Hickey is among the rare dual summer and winter sport athletes. He played wheelchair basketball in Rio in 2016 and two years later in Pyeongchang he helped Canada to a silver medal in para ice hockey. Since then, the 23-year-old who was born without a femur in his right leg has switched from offence to defence and remains a top scorer. The para ice hockey team is driven by its desire to rewrite a heartbreaking overtime loss to the U.S. in the 2018 gold-medal game.

Natalie Wilkie

Salmon Arm, B.C.

A cross-country skier and biathlete, Wilkie was Canada’s youngest team member in Pyeongchang at 17 and came home with a full set of Paralympic medals: gold, silver and bronze. Wilkie, who lost four fingers in a Grade 9 wood work class, has continued to deliver on the international circuit. She started off the 2021-22 season with gold medals in the 7.5-kilometre and 10-km cross-country races and silvers in the 1-km cross-country sprint and 12.5-km biathlon.

Mark Ideson

London, Ont.

Ideson got into the sport of wheelchair curling after a helicopter he was piloting crashed, leaving him with a spinal cord injury and quadriplegia. The 46-year-old made his debut as skip for Canada’s mixed curling team at the 2018 Paralympic Games and brought home a bronze medal. This time, Ideson is looking to upgrade the colour. Canada has had a podium finish in this event at every Games since it was first included in 2006.

Kerry Gillespie is a Toronto-based sports reporter for the Star. Reach her via email: kgillespie@thestar.ca