Canada’s Arendz takes gold at Para Nordic World Cup as Hudak, Picton each earn silver | CBC Sports

Mark Arendz highlighted a three-medal day for Canada with his second straight gold at the Para Nordic World Cup in Vuokatti, Finland on Friday.

The Hartsville, P.E.I., native took the top spot on the podium after winning the standing 10-kilometre biathlon with a time of 28 minutes 30.4 seconds.

The 32-year old has to overcoming struggles on the shooting range, where he missed three of his first ten shots.

“I wasn’t as focused as I needed to be on the range,” said Arendz, who skied a 150-metre penalty loop for each missed shot. 

“I was happy to be able to stop the early slide, refocus and bring back the performance to the level I expect of myself.”

In the women’s10-kilometre biathlon, Canada’s Brittany Hudak earned her third consecutive silver medal in Finland.

The 29-year-old only missed one shot on the range and skied and stopped the clock at 32:05.2, taking silver on an otherwise all-Ukrainian podium. Liudmyla Liashenko won gold at 31:51.6, while Bohdana Konashuk won bronze at 33:47.7.

Meanwhile, Canada’s Christina Picton won her fourth medal of the World Cup opener, scoring silver in the women’s sit ski biathlon.

Derek Zaplotinsky (Smoky Lake, Alta.), finished the men’s sit-ski in fourth with a time of 34:59.

The World Cup continues on Saturday with the team sprint event.