Canadian Para cross-country skier Natalie Wilkie added another world championship medal to her collection on Wednesday after racing to silver at the nordic skiing worlds in Trondheim, Norway.
The three-time Paralympic champion from Salmon Arm, B.C., reached the sprint classic podium in the women’s standing category, finishing just 0.21 seconds behind Norwegian favourite Vilde Nilsen in the one-kilometre event.
Nilsen captured gold with a time of three minutes 52.92 seconds in the six-woman final, which saw American Sydney Peterson claim bronze.
Wilkie, a seven-time Paralympic medallist, is poised for more success at next year’s Milano-Cortina Games after another standout season.
The 24-year-old claimed a pair of silvers at last month’s Para cross-country worlds in Toblach, Italy, crossing the finish line behind Nilsen in the 10km an 20km interval start freestyle events. She also captured two Para biathlon world titles last month in Pokljuka, Slovenia.
Wilkie competes in the LW8 classification for skiers with arm impairments. She lost four fingers on her left hand when she was 15 in a workshop accident at school.
Two years later, Wilkie became Canada’s youngest athlete at the 2018 Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, where she won a medal of every colour.