Canada earns bronze at wheelchair curling worlds and spot at 2026 Paralympics

Canada defeated Slovakia 4-2 to earn bronze at the World Wheelchair Curling Championship on Saturday in Stevenston, Scotland.

The Canadians also secured a spot at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Games, with its success in this quadrennial earning top qualification points alongside host Italy and 2025 world champions China.

Canada's team is made up of third/skip Gilbert Dash (Kipling, Sask.), lead Collinda Joseph (Stittsville, Ont.), second Douglas Dean (Thunder Bay, Ont.), fourth Jon Thurston (Dunsford, Ont.) and fifth Chrissy Molnar (Trent Lakes, Ont.), with Mick Lizmore serving as head coach.

The Canadians took a 1-0 edge in the second end before Slovakia tied it in the fourth.

Canada restored its lead with one point in the sixth, but Slovakia knotted the score once again in the seventh end.

In the eighth and final end, Canada scored two to break the tie and emerge victorious.

The Canadians entered the matchup having lost 5-4 to China in Friday's semifinals.

"All week long, we came out of the gates firing," Dash said after reaching the podium at his first worlds as skip. "Everybody was playing really well, and even though we had a little bit of a lull in the round robin, we came back up and we beat the reigning world champions, Norway, to get through into the playoffs.

"I'm proud of our team, and we all feel very proud to be representing Canada."

Canada now has nine world championship medals in wheelchair curling — the most of any nation.

"Now we begin the planning for next year," Joseph said. "Hopefully I can be part of the team that goes to Italy in 2026. We've learned so much here at this event, and we have a lot of things that we could use going forward, so I'm super excited."

China cruised past South Korea 14-3 to win gold in Saturday's final.