Canada’s Kalle Eriksson, guide Sierra Smith earn slalom bronze for 3rd medal of Paralympic debut

Canadian Para alpine skier Kalle Eriksson and guide Sierra Smith capped their memorable Paralympic debut with bronze in the men’s visually impaired slalom on Sunday at the Milano-Cortina Games.

Eriksson, from Kimberley, B.C., and Ottawa’s Smith, clocked a total time of one minute 31.26 seconds across two runs at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Both of their runs ranked third among the 13 skiers who finished the event.

Italy’s Giacomo Bertagnolli and Andrea Ravelli won their second gold and fifth medal overall of these Games with a total time of 1:29.29, ahead of silver medallists Michal Golas and Kacper Walas of Poland by 0.27 seconds.

Eriksson and Smith, who are also partners, won Canada’s first medal of the Games with silver in the downhill event last Saturday before adding bronze in the super-G on Monday.

Their latest medal brought a sense of relief for Eriksson, who missed the podium by one spot in the last two events — the alpine combined and giant slalom.

“I’m feeling great right now,” Eriksson said. “To finally get back on the podium is awesome. We missed it twice just by a hair. I was definitely a little worried.

“My ambition for today was to just go out and have fun, but then the second run came around, and I was in third again. I was like, ‘Man, I really do not feel like coming fourth again,’ so to come down across the bottom, and go first and finish third was awesome.”

The Canadian duo began competing together in 2022. They won silver medals in the slalom and giant slalom at last year’s world championships and have earned 22 career World Cup medals across three seasons.

They communicate through a headset and do a variety of sports and activities outside of skiing to help them perform as a singular unit on the snow.

“It may be against Kalle’s will, but I drag him out line dancing,” Smith said. “Not that I’m very good, but just trying to teach each other and work together line dancing is nice because if we’re just going to step the wrong way, we will bump into each other. 

“All those little things — mountain biking, rock climbing, all sorts of things to work on our communication.”

Canada now has 14 medals in Italy — three gold, three silver, eight bronze. The full medal table is available here.

In the sitting category, Calgary’s Kurt Oatway posted an eighth-place finish with a combined time of 1:34.55.

The 42-year-old veteran exits the Milano-Cortina Paralympics having won bronze in the downhill event last Saturday.

Wilkie 6th in final race

Nordic star Natalie Wilkie capped her Paralympics with a sixth-place finish in the women’s 20-kilometre cross-country standing category on Sunday.

The 25-year-old from Salmon Arm, B.C., was Canada’s most prolific individual athlete in Milano-Cortina, capturing four medals — two gold, one silver, one bronze — between biathlon and cross-country events.

Wilkie is the first-ever Canadian athlete to be named as an opening and closing ceremony flag-bearer at the same Paralympics.

She departs from these Games with 11 total Paralympic medals; two behind the women’s Winter Paralympics record held by alpine skier Lana Spreeman.

Nordic team rocked by illness

On the final day of competition, Canada’s nordic team had several athletes who were unable to compete due to illness.

Brittany Hudak, Emma Archibald (women’s 20km cross-country standing) and Derek Zaplotinsky (men’s 20km cross-country sitting) were among multiple others who Did Not Start their races on Sunday, while 14-time Paralympic medallist Mark Arendz was not listed entering the day.