Canada won five medals at the Paralympic Games in Beijing on Friday and is sure to add another as its hockey team plays the gold medal game.
British Columbia’s Mollie Jepsen took silver in the standing giant slalom for her second medal of the Games.
“For four years, I have focused my efforts on giant slalom, super-G and downhill. I am happy to have been able to demonstrate that I am a versatile skier, she explained. “I don’t fully realize it yet. I had high expectations for the giant slalom, and I’m happy to have managed to get on the podium. »
Mark Arendz of Prince Edward Island won silver in the 12 kilometer standing biathlon, the 11th Paralympic medal of his career.
Saskatchewan’s Brittany Hudak won the bronze medal in the individual standing biathlon event.
British Columbia snowboarder Tyler Turner of Campbell River won bronze in the SB-LL1 slalom
Finally at the end of the day, the Canadian wheelchair curling team won the bronze medal, defeating Slovakia 8-3.
The team, which led 4-3 at the start of the eighth end, cemented the victory with a superb last stone clearance by Jon Thurston. “Jon made some great shots to give us the win. A loss in the semi-final (9-5 against China in the semi-final), it hurts because we don’t have the opportunity to play for gold, but we are very happy to have played and won bronze,” said captain Mark Ideson.
Canada is guaranteed at least one more medal after its hockey team edged South Korea 11-0 in the semifinals.
After seven days of competition, Canada still sits third in the medal standings with a total of 21 medals (7-4-10). China largely dominates with 47 medals, including 14 gold.
Canada-USA Final
In hockey, Tyler McGregor scored four goals and added two assists to help the Canadian Paralympic Hockey Team advance to the final.
Canada will face the United States for gold on Saturday. The Americans were also dominant against China, winning 11-0.
“I’m proud of the way our group played today,” said McGregor, who turned 28 on Friday. We had input from everyone, even the guys who aren’t on the score sheet. They blocked shots and did well shorthanded.
“Everyone is really happy with their game and the team, and that’s important for the gold medal game. »
Billy Bridges also scored a hat trick in the Canadian camp. He reached the 50-point plateau at the Paralympic Games and now has 199 career goals with Team Canada.
Liam Hickey scored a goal and added four assists for Canada and Garrett Riley got his first goal for Team Canada. Greg Westlake and Anton Jacobs-Webb completed.
Dominic Larocque made one save in the first two periods before giving way to Adam Kingsmill, who saved two shots in the third. Canada outshot South Korea 43-3 in the penalty shootout column.
Money for Jepsen
Jepsen completed his giant slalom with a time of two minutes 0.95 seconds.
Zhang Mengqiu became the first Chinese athlete to win gold in a para-alpine skiing event. The German Andrea Rothfuss completed the podium.
For Jepsen, 22, it is her sixth career Paralympic medal and her second at the Beijing Games.
She had previously won gold in the downhill standing event.
Two medals in biathlon
In biathlon, Arendz finished behind Frenchman Benjamin Daviet with a time of 40 minutes and 13 seconds. Ukrainian Grygorii Vovchynskyi got the bronze medal.
Arendz thus added an 11th medal to her Paralympic career.
On the women’s side, Hudak finished the course with a time of 49 minutes and 3.4 seconds.
Ukrainian Liudmyla Liashenko won gold ahead of China’s Zhao Zhiqing.
Hudak, 28, now has three career Paralympic medals.
Bronze for Tyler Turner
Turner won the bronze medal in para snowboarding in the SB-LL1 incline slalom event. He clocked one minute 12.84 seconds.
Wu Zhongwei of China and Chris Vos of the Netherlands won gold and silver respectively.
The SB-LL1 category is reserved for riders with moderate impairment of knee or leg function, who are missing one leg above the knee or two legs below the knee.
Turner, 33, already had a gold medal in Beijing in snowboard cross.