Canada at the 2018 Winter Paralympics facts for kids

Canada sent amazing athletes to compete at the 2018 Winter Paralympics! These exciting games took place in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Canadian athletes showed off their skills in sports like para-Nordic skiing, sledge hockey, and wheelchair curling.

For para-Nordic skiing, Canada had a strong team of 10 men and 4 women. This group included 10 skiers and 2 special guide skiers who help visually impaired athletes. In the sledge hockey competition, Canada was in Group A, playing against teams from Norway, Italy, and Sweden.

Team Canada

Canada had the second-largest team at the 2018 Winter Paralympics, with 55 talented people! This big group also included 16 coaches and 26 support staff who helped the athletes.

The oldest member of Team Canada was James Anseeuw, who was 58 years old. The youngest member was James Dunn, at 27 years old.

Here's a quick look at how many athletes Canada sent for each sport:

Besides the athletes, many other Canadians went to the Games as coaches and officials. For example, Ken Babey was the coach for the sledge hockey team.

Medal Winners

Canadian athletes won several medals at the 2018 Winter Paralympics! Here are some of the amazing medalists:

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
1 Gold	Marcoux, MacMac Marcoux Guide: Jack Leitch	Alpine skiing	Men's downhill, visually impaired	March 10
1 Gold	Oatway, KurtKurt Oatway	Alpine skiing	Men's Super-G, sitting	March 11
2 Silver	Arendz, MarkMark Arendz	Biathlon	Men's 7.5km, standing	March 10
3 Bronze	Jepsen, MollieMollie Jepsen	Alpine skiing	Women's downhill, standing	March 10
3 Bronze	Cameron, CollinCollin Cameron	Biathlon	Men's 7.5 km, sitting	March 10
3 Bronze	Ramsay, AlanaAlana Ramsay	Alpine skiing	Women's Super-G, standing	March 11

Here's how Canada's medals were split by sport:

Medals by sport
Sport				Total
Alpine skiing	2	0	2	4
Biathlon	0	1	1	2
Cross-country skiing	0	0	0	0
Para ice hockey	0	0	0	0
Snowboarding	0	0	0	0
Wheelchair curling	0	0	0	0
Total	2	1	3	6

Para-alpine Skiing

Para-alpine skiing involves different races like downhill, Super-G, super combined, slalom, and giant slalom.

Schedule and Training

Skiers had practice runs for the downhill race on March 7. However, their practice runs on March 8 and 9 were cancelled.

The downhill race was the first event, happening on March 10. The Super-G race followed on March 11. The super combined event took place on March 13, with the Super-G part in the morning and the slalom part in the afternoon. Slalom races were on March 14 and 15. The last para-alpine skiing event, the giant slalom, was on March 17 and 18.

Results

Canadian athletes did very well in para-alpine skiing!

• Mollie Jepsen won a bronze medal in the women's downhill standing race. Marie Bochet from France won gold, and Andrea Rothfuss from Germany won silver.
• Mac Marcoux won a gold medal in the men's visually impaired downhill race. Jakub Krako of Slovakia won silver, and Giacomo Bertagnolli of Italy won bronze.
• Alana Ramsay earned a bronze medal in the women's Super-G standing race. Marie Bochet of France won gold, and Andrea Rothfuss of Germany won silver.
• Kurt Oatway won a gold medal in the men's Super-G sitting race. Andrew Kurka of the United States won silver, and Frederic Francois of France won bronze.

Para-Nordic Skiing

Canada's para-Nordic skiing team for the 2018 Winter Paralympics included 10 men and 4 women. This team had 10 skiers and 2 guide skiers.

Skiers

Some key skiers on the team included:

• Brian McKeever: He is a very famous para-Nordic skier. His guide skiers, Graham Nishikawa and Russell Kennedy, helped him. Russell Kennedy also competed in Nordic skiing at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
• Mark Arendz: At 27 years old, Mark had already competed in the 2014 Winter Paralympics. There, he won a silver medal in the men's sprint and a bronze medal in the men's middle distance standing.
• Chris Klebl: Chris won a gold medal in the men's 10-kilometre sit ski race at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi.
• Cindy Ouellet: Cindy had been part of Team Canada at the Summer Paralympics, where she played wheelchair basketball. She only started ski racing a year before the 2018 Winter Games. When she was 12, Cindy had bone cancer, which caused her disability. Before that, she was an alpine skier and dreamed of going to the Winter Olympics.
• The 2018 Games were the first Paralympics for Collin Cameron and Emily Young. Emily Young was a wrestler before she started para-Nordic skiing.

Here are some of the Canadian Nordic Skiers:

Schedule and Results

On March 12, the 15 km race took place. The sprint classic qualification was on March 14, followed by semifinals and finals. The classic race happened on March 17.

Biathlon

In biathlon, Canadian athletes won medals:

• Collin Cameron won a bronze medal in the men's 7.5 km sitting event. Daniel Cnossen of the United States won gold, and Dzmitry Loban of Belarus won silver.
• Mark Arendz won a silver medal in the men's 7.5 km standing race. Benjamin Daviet of France won gold, and Ihor Reptyukh of Ukraine won bronze.

Para-snowboarding

On February 21, 2018, Canada Snowboard announced that 7 athletes (five men and two women) would join Team Canada for para-snowboarding.

Sledge Hockey

Sledge hockey is a fast-paced sport similar to ice hockey, but played on sleds.

History

Canada's sledge hockey team qualified for the 2018 Winter Paralympics because they finished in the top four at the 2017 Sledge Hockey World Championships. They also played in the 2017 World Sledge Hockey Challenge in December in Charlottetown, Canada.

The team went to South Korea hoping to win a gold medal, especially after winning bronze at the 2014 Winter Paralympics. Their biggest rival was the United States, who had won the last two Paralympic gold medals in 2010 and 2014. However, Canada had won three gold medals in a row at the World Championships, including the 2017 World Championships A-Pool.

Roster

Ken Babey was the coach for the 2018 Games. He said it was very tough to choose the 17 players for the team.

Schedule and Results

Canada was in Group A for the sledge hockey competition, along with Norway, Italy, and Sweden.

• Canada played against Sweden on March 10.
• They played against Italy on March 11.
• Their game against Norway was on March 12.

Here's how the group looked after Canada's first game:

Team	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Canada	1	1	0	0	0	17	0	+17	3
Italy
Norway
Sweden

March 10, 2018 19:00 KST

Canada

19:00 KST

Sweden

Gangneung Hockey Centre

March 11, 2018 19:00 KST

Canada

19:00 KST

Italy

Gangneung Hockey Centre

March 12, 2018 15:30 MSK

Canada

15:30 MSK

Norway

Gangneung Hockey Centre

Wheelchair Curling

Wheelchair curling is a sport similar to curling, but played by athletes in wheelchairs. The competition started on March 10. Canada played against Sweden on March 11.

Here's a look at Canada's wheelchair curling team and their early results:

Team	Group stage												Tiebreaker	Semifinal	Final / BM
	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Mark Ideson Ina Forrest Dennis Thiessen Marie Wright James Anseeuw	SUI W 8–0	NOR W 10–1	SWE W 8–4	KOR	GBR	CHN	USA	NPA	SVK	GER	FIN

See also

In Spanish: Canadá en los Juegos Paralímpicos de Pyeongchang 2018 para niños