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Canada's first team to compete at the Winter Paralympics in Milan Cortina is in place with five disabled curlers nominated Monday, the Canadian Paralympic Committee and Curling Canada announced.
The team will include Gilbert Dash (Kipling, Sask.); Ina Forrest (Spallumcheen, British Columbia); Mark Ideson (London, Ontario); Collinda Joseph (Ottawa) and John Thurston (Dunsford, Ontario)
Canada is the only country to have placed on the podium at every wheelchair curling event since the sport debuted at the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games in Turin.
Four members – Forrest, Ideson, Joseph and Thurston – return from Canada's bronze medal-winning team at the 2022 Beijing Games.
Ideson, competing in his fourth Paralympic Games, will miss his third game in a row. He has three medals to his name – one gold and two bronze.
“Representing Canada at my fourth Paralympic Games is an incredible opportunity,” Ideson said. “I'm fortunate to be part of such a great group of athletes and staff, and we're ready to take on the best teams in the world. Competing in such a historic venue will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and knowing we'll once again have friends, family and fans in the stands makes it even more special.”
Forrest, who is also co-captain of Canada's Milan-Cortina 2026 Paralympic team, will be competing in her fifth Winter Paralympic Games, where she has one two golds and two bronzes.
“The opportunity to represent Canada at the Paralympics is an athlete’s dream,” Forrest said. “There's no guarantee that you'll be able to live that dream again, so each of my Paralympic events is something I really cherish. This one is especially important – I missed out on qualifying for the Turin 2006 team, which was a huge disappointment at the time, so competing in Milan Cortina 2026, 20 years later, feels like I've come full circle.”
