Paralympic viewing guide: Canadians of all ages are winning medals

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Canadians of all ages are racking up Paralympic medals

Three Canadian cross-country skiers from three different generations each won their second medal of the Beijing Winter Games today.

The great Brian McKeever, a 42-year-old Gen Xer, headlined the day by winning the men's vision impaired sprint for his second gold of the Games and the 15th of his unparalleled career. Also winning their second gold of the Games was a precocious Gen Z skier who's half McKeever's age. Natalie Wilkie's victory in the women's standing sprint gives her three Paralympic titles (and five medals total) at the age of just 21. Rounding out the haul for Canada, 33-year-old Millennial Collin Cameron captured his fifth Paralympic medal (all of them bronze) by placing third in the men's sitting sprint.

Through five days of competition in Beijing, Canadians have won 16 medals, including seven gold. That puts Canada second in the official standings, behind China, and third in total medals, behind the host country and Ukraine.

Day 6 looks like it'll be a quieter one for Canada, but there's a solid medal chance in alpine skiing, which returns from a two-day break. Meanwhile, the Canadian wheelchair curling team looks to secure a playoff spot on the final day of round-robin play. Here's what to watch on Wednesday night and Thursday morning:

Alexis Guimond goes for his second alpine medal of the Games.

Coming off a bronze in the men's standing super-G on Day 2, the 22-year-old has a good shot to repeat as a medallist in the giant slalom, which he took bronze in back in 2018. Canada also has one skier in each of the other two men's giant slalom events that make up the alpine program on Day 6. Brian Rowland competes in the sitting category while, in the vision-impaired division, 19-year-old Logan Leach will try to build on his top-nine finishes in each of his three races so far at these Games. Races begin at 7:30 p.m. ET, and each competition consists of two runs.

Unfortunately, Canada lost its best medal contender in the men's giant slalom when vision-impaired skier Mac Marcoux withdrew from the Games due to an injury after his second race. Marcoux won gold in the giant slalom in 2014 and bronze in 2018. The 24-year-old captured his sixth career Paralympic medal with a silver in the downhill on Day 1 in Beijing. But he was forced out of the Games with a lower-body injury after crashing in the super-G on Day 2.

Canada's wheelchair curling team can clinch a playoff spot.

Skip Mark Ideson, Canadian flag-bearer Ina Forrest and their teammates Jon Thurston and Dennis Thiessen snapped their three-game losing streak with wins over Great Britain and Estonia today to improve to 6-3. The top four teams make the playoffs and Canada is currently alone in third place, behind China and Sweden (both 6-2) and ahead of Slovakia (5-3) and a trio of 4-4 teams.

The Canadians can secure a spot in the semifinals with a win in their round-robin finale at 8:35 p.m. ET vs. Norway (4-5). Learn more about what's ahead for Canada by watching That Curling Show with hosts Devin Heroux and Colleen Jones at 8 p.m. ET on the CBC Sports YouTube channel. 

More on the Paralympics

Catch up on everything you may have missed from Day 5 here. Read about a young Ukrainian biathlete who pulled out of her event after finding out her dad was captured by Russian forces here. Read about how Canadian snowboarder Tyler Turner calmed himself before his gold-medal run by thinking about skydiving — the pastime that nearly killed him — here.

How to watch live events

They're being streamed on CBC Sports' Beijing 2022 website, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem. See the full streaming schedule here, including links to watch events when they go live. You can also catch Paralympic action daily on the CBC TV network. See the full TV schedule here. Read more about CBC Sports' Paralympic coverage plans here.

WATCH | What you missed on Day 5 of the Paralympics:

Quickly...

Alex Ovechkin tied Jaromir Jagr for third place on the NHL's all-time goals list. Ovechkin's 35th and 36th goals of the season in last night's win over Calgary raised his career regular-season total to 766. Ovechkin got here in 480 fewer games than Jagr. The Russian star is now just 35 goals away from No. 2 Gordie Howe, 128 from Wayne Gretzky's record and, yes, still displaying that photo of himself next to Vladimir Putin as his Instagram profile pic. 

The defending Brier champs won a battle of unbeatens. Brendan Bottcher's Team Canada beat Matt Dunstone's wild-card team today in a rematch of last year's semifinal, which Bottcher won en route to his first Brier title. With today's extra-end victory, Bottcher's squad (6-0) leapfrogged Dunstone's (6-1) for first place in Pool A and clinched a playoff spot. The only other unbeaten is the wild-card rink skipped by three-time Brier champ Brad Gushue, which leads Pool B at 5-0. Bottcher's team has another tough matchup coming up tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET when they face four-time winner Kevin Koe's 5-1 Alberta rink. Read more about today's action at the Brier here.

And finally...

The "fifth majors" in tennis and golf are about to get started.

Tennis' Indian Wells event is not quite a Grand Slam, but it's the next best thing given its prestige, big purses, and men's and women's tournaments happening simultaneously in the same location. Canada's Leylah Fernandez is coming in hot after repeating as champion of the Monterrey Open last week. She's seeded 18th and has a bye to the women's round of 64, which starts Friday. Fellow Canadians Felix Auger-Aliassime (seeded ninth) and Denis Shapovalov (13th) have byes to the men's round of 64, which begins Saturday.

Golf's Players Championship, which tees off Thursday morning at TPC Sawgrass (the course with the iconic island green), is a non-major in name only. Fans adore the venue, and players love the Players because of the massive amount of prize money up for grabs. This year's event has a purse of $20 million US — the largest in golf history. The top Canadian contender for the record $3.6-million winner's cheque is Corey Conners. He finished seventh at the Players last year and is currently ranked 42nd in the world.

You're up to speed. Talk to you tomorrow.