Canada is celebrating a banner day at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games, with two of the country's top Nordic athletes claiming bronze medals in back-to-back cross-country skiing events, bringing Canada's medal total to 10 in Italy.
Mark Arendz of Hartsville, P.E.I., added another medal to his extraordinary career, finishing third in the men's 10-kilometre interval start standing classic race. Brittany Hudak of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, took bronze in the women's 10-kilometre race just hours later. For Canadians watching, including the many Ottawa-area hockey and skating fans who've been following the Games closely. It was a morning of genuine national pride.
Mark Arendz: A Living Legend
Arendz's bronze is his 14th career Paralympic medal, a remarkable achievement that cements his status as one of Canada's greatest Paralympic athletes. At 36, he's competing at his fifth Games and showing no signs of slowing down.
He won silver earlier in the week in the individual biathlon and added Wednesday's bronze despite challenging conditions: warm weather had turned the course slushy and slow, making every climb exponentially harder than on firm 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," Arendz said after the race. "Every time you go up that hill, it's just an extra drain on the system."
He finished with a time of 27:59.3, behind France's Karl Tabouret and Belarus' Raman Svirydzenka.
Brittany Hudak: Power Through Pain
Hudak's bronze is particularly meaningful given the adversity she's overcome to reach this point. The 32-year-old, a co-captain of Canada's Paralympic team, has been competing with the lingering effects of a knee injury for more than a year.
She finished the 10-kilometre race in 32:01.0, behind American Sydney Peterson and Norway's Vilde Nilsen. It's Hudak's fourth Paralympic bronze medal, and her first of these Games in Italy after a fifth and sixth place finish earlier in the week.
Canada's Strong Paralympic Performance
Canada's Nordic skiers account for six of the country's 10 medals at Milano-Cortina. The wheelchair curling team, led by Calgary's Mark Ideson, is on a perfect 7-0 run heading into the medal rounds.
For Ottawa fans, the Games have been a reminder of the extraordinary athletes Canada produces across all disciplines, and of the depth of talent that competes under the maple leaf, far beyond the sports that dominate the regular headlines.
The Milano-Cortina Paralympics run through March 16.
Source: CBC Sports
