Canada's Ramsay, Cameron, Guimond ski to bronze medals at Beijing Paralympics
Canadians now up to 6 total podium appearances at Games
Canada's Alana Ramsay and Collin Cameron won bronze medals minutes apart from each other, and Alexis Guimond added one more to the Canadian medal haul on Sunday at the Beijing Paralympics.
Ramsay took an early stumble, threatening her chances in the women's standing super-G alpine event. But a remarkable recovery and strong finish pushed her to the podium.
The Calgary native now owns three career Paralympic bronze medals, with the previous two coming at PyeongChang 2018 — including the same super-G bronze.
But this one may have meant a bit more. Ramsay was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following a crash in January 2019, and said she didn't feel comfortable on skis again until last month.
"It's been a long time coming back from that so winning a bronze medal here means the world because it means my dedication to the sport is paying off," Ramsay said.
WATCH | Ramsay soars to super-G bronze:
China's Zhang Mengqiu won gold at one minute 13.54 seconds, while France Marie Bochet, the reigning Paralympic champion who fell in her opening race in Beijing on Saturday, scored silver in 1:14.97.
Ramsay, a 27-year-old with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, rounded out the podium with a time of 1:16.84.
Ramsay took a whole year off of skiing, and that was before COVID-19 came and wreaked havoc on everyone's schedule.
It was a long road, but now she's a Paralympic medallist once again.
"This sport has given me everything. It has given me the personality that I have, it has given me many, many friends on this team and it has given me this amazing opportunity to be here in China and to race for my country."
WATCH | What you missed on Day 1 of the Beijing Paralympics:
Cameron's 4th bronze
Meanwhile, Cameron collected his fourth career bronze medal, racing to third place in the men's 18km sitting cross-country event.
Cameron, of Bracebridge, Ont., prevented a Chinese podium sweep, holding off fourth-place Du Tian by nearly eight seconds to reach the podium.
"It's great. I love these long cross-country races. Honestly, I don't know what to say about today, I didn't expect this. I was kind of using this as a training race for the next couple of races building into it," Cameron said.
"It hasn't settled in what I just did today, but I'm pretty happy about it for sure."
WATCH | Cameron grabs bronze in cross-country event:
China's Zheng Peng won gold at 43:09.2, while countrymate Mao Zhongwu grabbed silver at 43:23.8.
Cameron, 33, took bronze with a time of 47:36.6. He was born with impaired muscle power and different leg lengths, and is competing at his second Games after initially trying his hand at Para ice hockey.
Fellow Canadians Derek Zaplotinsky and Ethan Hess placed 13th and 18th, respectively.
In the women's sitting 16k cross-country race, Canada's Lyn-Marie Bilodeau finished ninth, more than 16 seconds behind gold medallist Yang Hongqiong of China.
Canada now has six medals in Beijing. Athletes grabbed one of each colour on the first day of competition before Ramsay's and Cameron's bronze medals on Day 2.
Guimond adds to Canada's medal haul with bronze
Guimond won his second career Paralympic medal with a bronze in the men's super-G standing event.
The Gatineau, Que., native finished just under a second out of gold, finishing with a time of 1:10.02 seconds.
The 22-year-old won bronze in the giant slalom in his Paralympic debut at Pyeongchang 2018, to be the first Canadian men's standing skier to make the podium in 20 years. He placed fourth in the downhill and super-G events at those Games.
"It feels absolutely amazing. For the last four years my sole focus has been on the Paralympics, and it's very good to be here and to finally have a good result," Guimond said. "A lot of work went into this.
"The fire is always going to be there for me. I came short a couple of times and that was very disappointing for me, but I'm happy with my skiing today."
China's Liang Jingyi (1:09.11) and Austria's Markus Salcher (1:09.35) just barely edged out Guimond to claim gold and silver, respectively.
WATCH | Guimond races to bronze in super-G standing event:
Guimond's first major medal in the super-G event, didn't come with just the fire in him.
"I've changed so much in the last four years. I've dialled in on my physical health and mental health," he said. "Sometimes throughout these four years, it was tough mentally, and I had to surpass a lot of things.
"Physically I was quite small the first time around and I gained mass to really be in that competitive form. I prioritized everything as an athlete."
Canadian Brian Rowland placed 10th in the men's super-G sitting event finishing just over six seconds behind gold medallist Jesper Pederson of Norway.
Canada's wheelchair curling squad remains perfect
Canada's wheelchair curling team has continued its blazing start to the Paralympics with a 10-3 win over Latvia to move to 3-0.
Despite the dominant win, it didn't come without any drama — in this case, eventually favouring the Canadians.
As the official was coming out to measure whether or not the Canadian stone was touching the ring in the opening end, a helper removed the stone, leaving Canada the choice to either take one point or replay the end. Had the Latvian team removed the stone, Canada would have been awarded two points.
Canada opted to replay the end, where the team later scored four points.
"Unusual experience in the start with our rock, so we just decided to replay the end, and it was good," Canada's Jon Thurston said. As a team, we refocused very well and came out and had a very good first and second end.
"It was the first time that happened to me. We felt comfortable, and it turned out well for us. It was a good start for us."
WATCH | Canada remains unbeaten in wheelchair curling:
Latvia was able to score a point in each of the next two ends, but a two-point fourth end, followed by another four-point end in the fifth, led to Canada taking a 10-2 lead into the sixth.
Latvia took one final point in the sixth end, before the game came to a close.
Canada will next face the U.S. on Sunday at 8:35 p.m. ET.
4 Canadians advance in Para snowboarding
Four Canadian Para snowboarders have qualified to the quarter-finals in their categories on early Sunday in Beijing.
Alex Massie of Barrie, Ont., set a time of 1:02.46 to finish third in the men's SB-LL2 category standings.
In the women's SB-LL2 category, Lisa DeJong, of Biggar, Sask., and Sandrine Hamel, of St-Sauveur, Que., placed fourth and eighth, respectively, to also move on to the quarter-finals.
The quarter-finals, semifinals and finals will all take place Sunday at 10:30 p.m. ET.
Leach finishes 7th, Marcoux wipes out in alpine
Canadian Paralympic rookie Logan Leach finished seventh in the men's super-G vision impaired event.
The 19-year-old Lumby, B.C., native reached the finish line in one minute 18.38 seconds.
Great Britain's Neil Simpson raced to gold (1:08.91), while Italy's Giacomo Bertagnolli took silver (1:09.31) and Austria's Johannes Aigner grabbed bronze (1:09.74).
Combaluzier crashes out again
Canada's Katie Combaluzier was unable to rebound from a rough start to her first Paralympics, as she crashed out in the women's super-G sitting event.
The Toronto native wiped out around the first gate and was unable to complete the race — one of two to not do so in the event.
Combaluzier, 28, also fell in the women's sitting downhill on Saturday, falling near the top of the course, going down and missing a gate almost immediately.
