Beginning on March 4, 2022, the Beijing Paralympic Games are almost upon us! Here are the local athletes to be on the lookout for.
Team Canada Parahockey
Dominic Larocque (goalie), Antoine Lehoux (forward) and Anton-Jacob Webb (forward) will be part of the Canadian Parahockey team. This will be a first for the two forwards, who have already participated in the Défi sportif AlterGo.
They will face the United States, Russia and Korea on March 5. Canada won the silver medal against the United States at the 2018 Games. It will be a heated battle, no doubt about it!
Para-Alpine Ski Team
3 athletes from Quebec will compete in para-alpine skiing, a sport where racers can exceed 100km/hour. Alexis Guimond, from Gatineau, started skiing when he was 4 years old. He won the bronze medal in giant slalom at the 2018 Paralympic Games.
This will be Julien Petit’s first Games as a guide for visually impaired athlete Logan Leach. The new duo finished 5th in the slalom at the 2021 World Cup in Switzerland.
Frédérique Turgeon had to relearn to ski on one leg in 2013. She has competed in numerous events since 2015, including the 2019 IPC World Championships, where she won bronze in super combined and super G, and silver in slalom.
Sandrine Hamel
Sandrine Hamel, from Saint-Sauveur, will represent Canada in the para-snowboarding event in the SB-LL2 category. This category includes athletes with mild coordination disorders (moderately affected movement of one leg or both feet and ankles, or absence of one leg).
Sandrine Hamel recently won the bronze medal in the inclined slalom event at the Winter ParaSports World Championships held in January 2022 in Norway. Her efforts and those of her colleagues earned them gold in the women’s team event!
Sandrine Hamel was born with a double scoliosis that left her with a paralyzed leg after surgery and she would like to pursue a career in sports therapy.
Lyne-Marie Bilodeau
Personality of the month for Parasports Québec last January, Lyne-Marie Bilodeau is finally realizing a big dream: her first Paralympic Games! The Sherbrooke athlete will try to make a place for herself in the paranordic cross-country skiing event in sit-ski. A three-time gold medalist at the 2019 Canada Winter Games, she is well on her way.
The young athlete has set her sights on the future: in August 2021, she moved to Canmore, Alberta, to train diligently with the national team and become bilingual. When she takes off her skis, Lyne-Marie Bilodeau dives into her school books to become an early childhood educator.
You will soon be able to consult the competition schedule and the results of the events, which will be posted on CBC’s website.
