BEIJING – Canada’s Mark Arendz won gold after shooting perfectly on Day 4 of the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games.
The 10-kilometre middle distance biathlon races got underway on Tuesday morning (March 8) at the Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre in China.
In the men’s standing, it came down to one shot and Arendz went 20-for-20 on the range to win another gold for Canada at a time of 31:45.2.
🥇GOLD for @markarendz in the 10km Para Biathlon @NordiqCanada pic.twitter.com/1SApzzFuq6
— Canadian Paralympic Committee (@CDNParalympics) March 8, 2022
Ukraine’s Grygorii Vovchynskyi (19/20) took silver and Kazakhstan's Alexandr Gerlits (17/20) took bronze.
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Arendz and Vovchynskyi were head-to-head in the race and it became clear that if the Canadian was going to win, it would be on the final range against the first-place Ukrainian.
Both had shot clean heading into the fourth range, but it was Vovchynskyi missing at the worst possible moment, off the mark on only one target on the day.
Arendz, 32, on the other hand, knocked them all down and was off uncontested to his first gold in Beijing.
On Day 1, Arendz, who lives and trains in Canmore, won bronze in the biathlon sprint.
In the women’s standing, Canada’s Brittany Hudak took sixth place and shot 18-for-20 at a time of 43.37.1.
Canada’s Emily Young (18/20) finished eighth.
Ukraine swept the podium with Iryna Bui taking gold, Oleksandra Kononova in silver, and Liudmyla Liashenko taking bronze.
🇨🇦 @brittanyhudak93 hits the gas for the final stretch of the 10km Para Biathlon race 🔥 #TeamCanada @NordiqCanada pic.twitter.com/C3WAxm1wkh
— Canadian Paralympic Committee (@CDNParalympics) March 8, 2022
In the women’s sitting, Canada’s Christina Picton finished eighth and shot 17-for-20 at a time of 39:15.9.
Kendall Gretsch (19/20) of the United States won gold. USA’s Oksana Masters (20/20) took silver and Germany’s Anja Wicker (15/20) skied to bronze.
In the men’s sitting, Canada’s Derek Zaplotinsky (17/20) finished eighth at a time of 32:56.4.
Taking gold was China’s Lui Mengtao (17/20), Germany’s Martin Fleig won silver (18/20), and Ukraine’s Taras Rad (16/20) won bronze.
Canada’s Collin Cameron, a four-time Paralympic medallist, did not race. He’ll race tomorrow in the cross-country sprint, which is Cameron’s specialty event.
