Canadians Natalie Wilkie and Emily Young finally got something they could sink their teeth into at the World Para Nordic Skiing Championships.
After missing the podium in a tough week of racing they teamed up with multi-medalists Collin Cameron and Mark Arendz and carved out a precious piece of silver in Saturday’s cross-country mixed relay.
“We needed a little estrogen on the podium,” quipped Young.
They couldn’t quite keep up to Team Ukraine, which won its ninth gold medal of the championships, but silver was sweet for a Canadian team that fed off the cheers of their home country supporters who lined the course on a sunny but cold morning at Otway Nordic Centre.
Wilkie, an 18-year-old from Salmon Arm, had fourth-place results in the sprint and mid-distance cross-country events earlier in the week. She took the anchor leg after Arendz made his final push into the stadium.
“It was a little bit stressful knowing my team had come in right behind (Ukrainian skier Yuliia Batenkova-Bauman),” said Wilkie. “I felt kind of stressed because I didn’t think I could keep up to (Liudmyla) Lianshenko but I did my best and silver’s really good.”
Young’s best finish heading into the relay was her sixth-place result in the cross-country sprint and the 28-year-old drew added inspiration from the cheers of the flag-waving pro-Canada crowd, which included her family from North Vancouver.
“It’s fantastic to have my family here and all the non-family members of Canada – we have them cheering everywhere, they can throw their voices better than anyone I know, you can hear them on the far corners of the course,” said Young. “The energy you get from some cheering and from your coaches or non-coaches, it does help so much in the spots where they’re a little bit dark.
“It’s great to be home and to bring home a medal at the world championships is fantastic. This is where my journey started for skiing. My very first big competition was Prince George for Canada Winter Games, with the silver medals there, so to come home (to B.C.) and bring it back here four years later to have another silver medal here is pretty special.”
Cameron, a sit-skier from Bracebridge, Ont., won gold in the cross-country sprint and silver in the mid-distance biathlon. He got Canada off to a great start in the relay, sitting just behind Ukraine and Japan as he tagged off to Young.
“I just tried to stick with the Japanese guy (Yoshihiro) Nitta and just try to hang on to him for so long and give them as good of an advantage as I can and pass it off to Emily to keep us going,” said Cameron.
Arendz, of Hartsville, P.E.I., who won two silver and two bronze in individual races during the week, passed two teams during his freestyle ski leg.
Canada, the Paralympic silver medalists in relay last year in Pyeongchang, completed the 10-kilometre course in 27:46.6, 1:16.5 off the winning pace of Ukraine (Dmytro Suiarko and guide Vasyl Potapenko, Oleksandra Kononova, Batenkova-Bauman and Liashenko) whose winning time was 27:19.2.
“They were always ahead but the gap was much smaller,” said Young. “They’re a powerhouse. It’s intimidating because they’ve always been fast. We know what we’re up against and know we just have to do the best we can.”
Germany (Andrea Eskau, Alexander Ehler, Nico Messinger and guide Lutz Peter Klausmann) were the bronze medalists in 28:29.3, winning a close duel with Korea for the final medal position.
In the open relay, Norwegian standing skier Vilde Nilsen moved up from fourth to first on the last leg of the relay to give Norway the victory. Nilsen and her teammates Treygve Steinar Larsen, Hakon Olsrud, Eirik Bye and his guide Elvind Roed stopped the clock in 24:48.8.
Bye came in together with his guide Roed to end the race and was greeted by his elated teammates with Nilsen, a two-time gold medalist in the individual events, waving the Norwegian flag.
“It’s amazing to win gold, that’s my first gold medal and I don’t know what to say crossing the line as a world champion,” said Bye, who has 10 per cent vision and can see only close objects. “Before the start I thought we were in position to win the bronze medal but the athletes before me did an incredible job.”
Bye took the lead with about 500 metres left.
Silver went to France (Benjamin Daviet, Anthony Chalencon and his guide Simon Valverde), who completed the 10km course in 25:00.8. Ukraine (Iaroslav Reshetynskyi and his guide Kostiantyn Yaremko, Bohdana Konashuk, and Gygorii Vovchenskyi) won bronze in 25:08.2.
In his first race at the championships since returning from Europe, visually-impaired skier Brian McKeever and his guide Graham Nishikawa of Canmore teamed up with sit-skier Ethan Hess of Pemberton and standing skier Kyle Barber of Sudbury, Ont., and finished sixth in the open relay.
As expected, McKeever, the 39-year-old veteran of the team, gave Canada a healthy lead after his 2.5km classic technique loop. The 27-year-old Barber, without poles, skied the second and four legs, while Hess, 19, covered the third segment in his sled.
“I took off just as a big group had pulled in just ahead of me, including the German sit-skier (Martin Fleig) and I tried to stick with him. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it happen,” said Hess. “There was a Bulgarian right behind me and I pulled ahead of him right at the first climb and I heard the guide screaming at their athlete the whole time and that was a cool experience having someone chase you down like that and I did everything I could to stay ahead of him and managed to do that and tag off the Kyle.”
For Barber and Hess, it was their first relay experience in a high-profile event.
“The body was hurting after the first lap, I tried to hold on as best I could,” said Barber. “It was the best skiing I’ve done all week, for sure.”
The Otway crowd lining the course and watching from the lodge balcony erupted in a thunderous cheer for Barber as he strode across the finish line.
“Coming across the finish line to that welcome, I’ve never experienced anything like that. That was the coolest experience for sure being here,” said Barber.
