Two-time Paralympic biathlon champion Mark Arendz added to Canada’s medal haul on the inaugural Para Biathlon World Championships together with his second gold medal in as many days.
The Hartsville, P.E.I., native continued his excellent season by successful the boys’s 12.5-kilometre standing particular person race on Thursday, posting a time of 35 minutes 01.2 seconds on the Caledonia Nordic Ski Membership in Prince George, B.C. He went 20-for-20 within the capturing vary.
The 34-year-old beat reigning Paralympic champion Benjamin Daviet of France, who clocked 36:40.7 to put forward of fellow Paralympic veteran Grygorii Vovchynskyi of Ukraine (37:01.7). It marked a second of revenge for Arendz, who took silver behind Daviet within the occasion on the Beijing Video games in 2022.
Natalie Wilkie of Salmon Arm, B.C., additionally returned to the rostrum on Day 2 with bronze within the girls’s 12.5km standing particular person, Canada’s fifth medal at worlds. Her time of 41:11.1 was bested by Ukraine’s Liudmyla Liashenko (39:25.9) and China’s Zhao Zhiqing (40:17.7), the gold and silver medallists from the 2022 Paralympics, respectively.
The 23-year-old Wilkie missed simply one among her 20 photographs throughout the 4 rounds, including a one-minute penalty minute to her closing time. Prince Albert, Sask.’s Brittany Hudak was 18.3 seconds behind Wilkie for fourth place.
Wilkie tied Liashenko for gold within the girls’s 7.5km standing dash on the opening day.
Smoky Lake, Alta., native Derek Zaplotinsky additionally competed Thursday, ending ninth within the males’s 12.5km sitting particular person.
The Para biathlon worlds, which run by way of Sunday, shall be adopted by the World Cup finals at Caledonia from March 13-17.
