Natalie Wilkie (born January 21, 2001) is a Canadian Paralympic cross-country skier. As the youngest member of Team Canada at the

2018 Winter Paralympic Games ) , nations = 49 , athletes = 569 , events = 80 in 6 sports , opening = 9 March , closing = 18 March , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Eun-jung Seo Soon-seok , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic ...

, Wilkie won gold, silver, and bronze medals at the

PyeongChang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

games.

Career

Wilkie began training and competing in able-bodied cross-country skiing when she was 4 years old, growing up near the Larch Hills Cross Country Ski Area near

Salmon Arm Salmon Arm is a city in the Columbia Shuswap Regional District of the Southern Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia that has a population of 17,706 (2016). Salmon Arm was incorporated as a municipal district on May 15, 1905. The ...

, BC,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. In June 2016, as a Grade 9 student at Salmon Arm Secondary School, Wilkie lost four fingers on her left hand in an accident involving a jointer during a school woodworking class. She resumed training with her able-bodied ski club only two weeks after the accident. Wilkie was introduced to para cross-country skiing at a camp in Canmore,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

in November 2016. Today, she competes nationally in

in both

Paralympic cross-country skiing Paralympic cross-country skiing is an adaptation of cross-country skiing for athletes with disabilities. Paralympic cross-country skiing is one of two Nordic skiing disciplines in the Winter Paralympic Games; the other is biathlon. Competition is ...

using a single ski pole and in able-bodied

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

using two ski poles. Wilkie was designated the “CTV Athlete of the Week” on December 18, 2017. In February 2018, Wilkie was selected as the youngest member of the PyeongChang 2018 Canadian Paralympic Team. At the

, at the age of 17, she won a gold medal in the Women's 7.5 km Classic, Standing, a silver medal in the 4x2.5 Mixed Relay, a bronze medal in the Women's 1.5 km Sprint Classic, Standing, and placed sixth in the Women's 15 km Free, Standing. At the 2019

World Para Nordic Skiing Championships The World Para Nordic Skiing Championships, known before 30 November 2016 as the IPC Biathlon and Cross-Country Skiing World Championships, along with the Winter Paralympic Games, are the most prestigious level of international competition in Paral ...

held in Prince George,

, Wilkie won silver medals in the Women's Long C, Standing and Mixed Relay events. She also earned 4th place finishes in the Women's Sprint F, Standing and Women's Middle F, Standing events. At the Sapporo 2019 World Para Nordic Skiing World Cup held in March 2019, Wilkie won a gold medal in the Women's Short C, Standing and a silver medal in the Women's Middle F, Standing events.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkie, Natalie 2001 births Living people Canadian female cross-country skiers Cross-country skiers at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Cross-country skiers at the 2022 Winter Paralympics Paralympic cross-country skiers of Canada Paralympic gold medalists for Canada Paralympic silver medalists for Canada Paralympic bronze medalists for Canada Medalists at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Paralympics Paralympic medalists in cross-country skiing 21st-century Canadian women