Natalie Wilkie's ski season got off to a winning start.
The 23-year-old Salmon Arm resident saw several podium finishes while competing with Canada's Para Nordic team at Vuokatti, Finland.
First up for Wilkie was a trio of biathlon races. Competing in the Womens Standing category (for all her events), Wilkie's first podium finish of her Vuokatti visit came on Day 1 (Dec. 16), when she won bronze in the 7.5-kilometre sprint race. The following day, Wilkie finished first in the 12.5-km individual event with a time of 38:33. She was joined at the podium by Brittany Hudak, who took silver with a time of 38:56. In her final race, Sprint Pursuit, Wilkie once again took first place, coming in eight seconds ahead of Ukraine鈥檚 Oleksandra Kononova.
After the biathlon races were three cross-country events, in which Wilkie would earn two more trips to the podium. The first was a silver-medal finish in the Classic Sprint event.
Wilkie concluded her 2024 World Cup run with a gold medal finish in the 10-km Mass Start Free event. According to Nordiq Canada, she and Norway鈥檚 Nilsen Vilde were matched through the first three laps. Wilkie would pull ahead in her final lap to beat Vilde by eight seconds with a finishing time of 32:44. across the line with a triumphant celebration at a time of 32:44.
鈥淭he head-to-head racing format is always exciting, especially since we don鈥檛 race this way often,鈥� Wilkie told Nordiq Canada. 鈥淩acing against athletes with different abilities is fascinating because we all have unique strengths 鈥� I鈥檓 strong on the hills, but two-poled athletes are faster on the flats.
鈥淢y strategy was to stay with the lead group and be smart about my tactics. I tucked in behind some Norwegians to conserve energy throughout the windy course and made my final push on the last lap.
鈥淚鈥檓 thrilled with how my race played out today, and I鈥檓 ecstatic to take the win! It was extra inspiring to hear coaches from other countries cheering me on鈥擨 definitely gave it everything I had.鈥�
Up next for Canada's Para Nordic team: the Para Biathlon World Championships in Pokljuka, Slovenia, Feb. 6-9, and the Para Cross-Country World Championships in Toblach, Italy, Feb. 11-14.
