Canada breaks wheelchair curling medal drought with silver at worlds
Canada took home silver at the World Wheelchair Curling Championships on Saturday in Wetzikon, Switzerland.
While Canada ultimately fell 5-4 to Russia in the final, skip Mark Ideson succeeded in along with teammates Jon Thurston, Ina Forrest and Dennis Thiessen in breaking the nation’s long-running medal drought.
The team’s silver marks the first time Canada has been on the podium since winning gold in Sochi in 2013.
In the gold medal game, Canada was able to maintain its early lead until the 7th end. However, a steal Russian steal tied the game at 4-4 heading into the 8th.
With a chance to win the match, Thurston wrecked his shot on the front guard, handing Russia a steal and a 5-4 win.
«Of course, we’re happy with the silver medal,» said Thurston following the match. «We set out at the beginning of the week to make the playoffs and we hoped to get on the podium and we did that.
«Russia played an excellent game. We just stayed in the game and everyone was playing well, but to lose, that’s curling. It was a game of inches and we lost by inches.»
Equally important, the silver helped secure valuable qualifying points towards Canada’s hopes to make the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing.
