Canadian roundup: Mac Marcoux's gold caps off successful 1st day at Paralympics
CBC Sports | Posted: March 10, 2018 1:22 AM | Last Updated: March 11, 2018
Country wins 4 medals, para ice hockey team routs Sweden
Canada captured its first gold medal on the opening day of competition at the 2018 Paralympic Games on Saturday in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Mac Marcoux of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., won his first Paralympic visually impaired downhill race in a blistering one minute, 23.93 seconds. The 20-year-old topped the podium alongside his guide Jack Leitch.
Marcoux is competing in his second Games. He earned gold in visually impaired giant slalom and took bronze in both the downhill and super-G in Sochi four years ago.
Canadian para nordic veteran Mark Arendz of Hartsville, P.E.I., had a silver finish in the men's biathlon 7.5-kilometre standing sprint behind France's Benjamin Daviet. The 28-year-old is competing in his third Paralympics and collected a silver and bronze in Sochi.
Canada's 17-goal blowout
The Canadian para ice hockey team routed Sweden 17-0 to open its Paralympic tournament. Tyler McGregor scored four times and Bryan Sholomicki netted a hat trick, while Rob Armstrong and Liam Hickey both scored twice in the offensive onslaught.
Ben Delaney, Dom Cozzolino, Adam Dixon, Corbyn Smith, Billy Bridges and Greg Westlake all scored as well, while Corbin Watson and Dominic Larocque split time in net. McGregor also had two assists to reach 100 career points with the Canadian national team.
The Canadians are back in action on Sunday at 6 a.m. ET when they take on Italy. The Italians opened their Games with a 3-2 shootout win over Norway, while South Korea defeated Japan 4-1 in the other early game.
Curling rink rocking early
Canada began its quest for a fourth-consecutive Winter Games gold in wheelchair curling with a pair of impressive wins, first defeating Switzerland 8-0 then drubbing Norway 10-1.
The Canadian quartet, led by skip Mark Ideson, forced sixth-end handshakes in both games to start its Paralympics with a 2-0 record.
Up next for the rink is a showdown with Sweden on Sunday at 12:35 a.m. ET.
Jepsen earns Canada's 1st medal
Earlier, Mollie Jepsen of Whistler, B.C., took bronze in the women's downhill standing event in a time of 1:34.60 behind France's Marie Bochet and Germany's Andrea Rothfuss.
Calgary's Alana Ramsay was fourth, while Toronto's Erin Latimer and Mel Pemble of Victoria B.C., finished sixth and ninth, respectively. Montreal's Frederique Turgeon did not finish after falling.
In biathlon, Collin Cameron of Sudbury, Ont., added another bronze in the men's 7.5 km sitting sprint. It was the first biathlon medal in international competition for the 29-year-old, who began competing in the sport in 2016. The medal was also the first by a Canadian in a sitting biathlon event in Paralympic history.
Alexis Guimond of Gatineau, Que., had Canada's best result in the men's alpine downhill standing race with a fourth-place result. Kirk Schornstein of Spruce Grove, Alta., was sixth and Braydon Luscombe of Duncan, B.C., did not finish.
Calgary's Kurt Oatway was eighth in the men's downhill sitting event.
Emily Young of Kelowna, B.C., finished the women's biathlon 6 km standing sprint in seventh ahead of eighth-place Brittany Hudak of Prince Albert, Sask.