Canada's Mark Arendz and Brittany Hudak each claimed bronze medals in the 10-kilometre interval start classic standing races at the Milano-Cortina Paralympics on March 11. Arendz secured his 14th career Paralympic medal, while Hudak earned her fourth. The victories contributed to Canada's total of 10 medals in the Games so far.
At the Tesero Cross-country Skiing Stadium in Val di Fiemme, Mark Arendz of Hartsville, P.E.I., finished the men's standing 10km race in 27 minutes 59.3 seconds, earning bronze behind France's Karl Tabouret, who won gold in 27:10.7, and Belarus' Raman Svirydzenka, who took silver in 27:38.4. The 36-year-old five-time Paralympian, who won silver in the individual biathlon earlier in the Games, described the conditions as challenging due to warmer weather causing slushy snow. "I was battling the conditions for sure and I'm kind of starting to feel the fact that this was the fourth race in five days but I am really happy," Arendz said. He noted the slush made climbs three times harder, draining extra energy on the four laps.
In the women's race, Brittany Hudak of Prince Albert, Sask., clocked 32:01.0 for bronze, trailing gold medalist Sydney Peterson of the United States (29:49.2) and Norway's Vilde Nilsen (29:51.8). The 32-year-old, competing in her fourth Paralympics and serving as co-captain of Canada's delegation, has been managing a knee injury for over a year. This marked her first medal in Italy and added to her collection of four Paralympic bronzes, two in cross-country and two in biathlon. "It feels so good," Hudak said. "Today, the conditions were tough, but I really just tried to embrace that. I knew it was the same for everyone. To get a bronze medal here feels really great."
Emma Archibald of Fall River, N.S., placed sixth in the women's event with 35:26.8. Canada's nordic skiing team has now won six of the country's 10 medals in Italy—one gold, three silver and six bronze—bringing the nation's all-time Winter Paralympic total to 198.
In wheelchair curling, Canada's team improved to 7-0 with a 9-6 win over Slovakia, overcoming a blown 6-0 lead to score the final points in the seventh and eighth ends. Skip Ina Forrest highlighted the need to win every game despite semifinal qualification, while Jon Thurston called it a battle against Slovakia's strong play.
