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By Keiran Gorsky, Martin Cleary & Dan Plouffe
Collinda Joseph was the only Ottawa athlete in action today at the Paralympics as Team Canada remained undefeated in mixed team wheelchair curling. The 60-year-old lead had her most impressive game of the competition as Canada’s Team Mark Ideson thrashed Norway’s Team Jostein Stordahl 9-2 in their evening game.
“We’re thrilled that we have three wins,” Joseph said via the Canadian Paralympic Committee after the second game. “Both teams today were really tough and to come away with two wins today was fantastic.”
Joseph made a lovely takeout to remove the first Norwegian stone in the second end, while her stone curled gently into the four-foot. It seemed to set the rhythm early on as both teams vied for position in the house. The tit-for-tat forced Stordahl, the Norwegian skip, to settle for a single point in the second to tie the game 1-1. Stordahl went on to make a difficult shot around cover in the third to sit one and Ideson opted to blank to keep the hammer.
On a throw she thought she bungled, Joseph took out Norwegian lead Mia Larsen Sveberg’s stone and tapped back her first stone to the edge of the house. Ideson was dead on with his final throw of the fourth as Canada claimed two points to take a 3-1 lead.
“They like to play with a lot of rocks in play. We do too, really,” Ideson said of Norway, who won the World Wheelchair Curling Championship in 2024. “So we tried to get as many rocks in play as we could… today it was just our lucky day, I guess.”
Joseph did wonderfully to set up a decisive sixth end after Stordahl brought it back within one in the fifth. She drew her final stone of the game around two Norwegian guards and directly onto the button. Canadian third Jon Thurston followed up with what might well go down as the best shot of the tournament, straddling the centre line to sneak through the Norwegian cover, removing two of Norway’s stones in the house and lying five for Canada.
Stordahl wrecked his final shot, allowing Ideson an easy draw for six points after which Norway conceded.
“We’re very confident in this team and we have a goal in mind, obviously, to pad the podium and hopefully come away with a gold medal,” said Joseph, who finished the game with an 81% shotmaking percentage. “But outside of the wins, our processes are being put in place and we’re following through with them and I think that’s even more important.”
If that reaction reveals anything, it’s that Joseph is extraordinarily process-oriented. Indeed, Joseph’s time at these Paralympics is just one facet of her own overarching philosophy. Outside of sport, Joseph serves as Manager of Standards Development and Research with Accessibility Standards Canada (ASC) – a departmental corporation established in 2019 under the Accessible Canada Act. The organization is, itself, one small part of an effort to make Canada barrier-free to people with disabilities by 2040.
Joseph, who lost her ability to walk when she was 18 years old after a train derailment, has spoken at length about the need for more accessible spaces. The standards put forward by the expert committees that form the ASC are forwarded to the Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities, which might or might not enact their suggestions as federal policy.
“These innovations will impact the lives of Canadians across the country,” she told the Canadian Paralympic Committee. “The standards that are developed would impact the federally rated sector like Canada Post and other federal departments.
“They would all have to meet those requirements if they become regulation. So that has a trickle-down effect with municipalities and provinces.”
Those suggestions range from making hallways, entrances and public spaces more traversable to the highlighting of gaping flaws in construction codes. In 2022, Joseph noted that there were no building codes that outlined emergency exits for people with disabilities.
Joseph sees her participation in sport as the logical extension of her efforts.
“My curling club is a good example of how I would like society to be,” she explained to the CPC. “Wheelchair curlers are seen as curlers and not necessarily just wheelchair curlers. We are spread out amongst the whole curling membership and curl on teams with able-bodied curlers.
“Sport for me has always been an equalizer, and what I mean is if I’m talking to someone about curling, I can talk to another person about curling and it doesn’t matter if it’s wheelchair curling.”
Canada opened day with ‘resilient’ win over Team GB
Joseph and Team Canada played a considerably closer 5-4 game against Great Britain’s Team Hugh Nibloe in the early morning. Joseph flashed her first shot of the third end, setting the groundwork for another lengthy exchange of take-outs. Ideson executed a simple takeout on his final shot of the third to tie the game 1-1. Canada stole a point in the fourth when Nibloe flubbed a double takeout.
The British tallied a point in each of the three ends that followed while Joseph missed two more shots. She got her act together in the final end, placing a guard stone that served as cover for an eventual Canadian cluster on the left side of the house. In a disastrous error, Nibloe took out his own rock on his penultimate throw. His final draw was light as Canada managed to score three to win the game.
“Very excited. I think it showed a lot of resilience on our part,” Joseph said via the CPC. “Happy obviously to get the win and hopefully continue to build on that resilience.”
Ottawa Paralympians in action on March 9:
Day 3 Preview: Sierra Smith carries on traditions – family’s Team Canada ski legacy & hot starts with partner Kalle Eriksson
Ottawa para alpine skiing guide Sierra Smith and Kalle Eriksson enjoyed a dream debut on Saturday at the Paralympics when they won a silver medal in the men’s downhill for athletes with visual impairments.
That performance on the biggest stage in sport carried on the pair’s tradition of dazzling debuts dating back to their very first competition won they won gold at the PEI 2023 Canada Winter Games.
The custom grew stronger when they hit the podium in their first three World Cup races in 2024 and then a week later they won their first World Cup event at none other than Cortina d’Ampezzo in the slalom.
And the streak continued in February 2025 in Slovenia when they won silver medals in both the slalom and giant slalom at their first World Para Alpine Skiing Championships.
It’s been a meteoric rise for 25-year-old Smith and 21-year-old Eriksson, and certainly not one that either athlete drew up until a few short years ago.
Smith had represented Canada in her youth at the Trofeo Topolino and Whistler Cup, where she won a bronze medal. She was later part of the national team program, becoming the third generation in a row in her family to wear the maple leaf on the ski slopes.
Smith’s mother Julie Klotz was a slalom forerunner at the Calgary 1988 Olympics and a past national team member, while her grandfather Trevor Klotz was a key leader in establishing the Club Mont Ste. Marie ski team and once raced at the famed Kitzbühel downhill (and crashed in fog) in 1958.
“Mont Ste. Marie is a ski hill like no other. You know everybody and everybody knows you and it’s just one huge family,” Smith recently recalled. “I know they’re all coming out to the Games and cheering us on. They’re the biggest supporters I’ve ever met.”
Injuries and the pandemic ultimately put a halt to Smith’s own competitive pursuits.
She didn’t expect to return to the sport at a high-performance level, but she still had a strong desire to stay connected to skiing. So the Louis-Riel high school grad continued to coach, including with the University of Calgary Dinos program while she was studying kinesiology at U of C.
But once she met Eriksson, a new pathway opened itself. Eriksson, 21, had lost all but 6% of his vision in 2020 after sustaining rare and severe damage to his retinas from the sun’s reflection while skiing without goggles on a glacier in Sweden.
“He didn’t have a guide, so I decided to ski in front of him,” Smith recounted in an interview with the Ottawa Sports Pages in advance of the Paralympic season. “He was really fast, and we got along great. That’s when I realized how much I missed it, and I found a way to get back into skiing for something bigger than just myself.”
Smith communicates with Eriksson through a two-way headset system as they tackle courses at speeds nearing 100 km/h. One of the few women guiding on the men’s side of the sport, Smith has developed a strong connection with her partner on the snow and in her personal life.
“It’s unreal getting to travel the world and race with your best friend,” she recently told the Canadian Paralympic Committee. “Wearing that maple leaf as we’re flying down the hill is something I’ve always dreamed of, and it’s an honour to be able to represent Canada out there.”
You can read more in this full feature by the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Dan Plouffe here on OttawaSportsPages.ca.
Also in action on Monday will be Smith’s local para alpine skiing counterparts, Alexis Guimond (men’s standing) and Brian Rowland (men’s sitting). After getting eaten up by soft snow in their opening race and failing to finish their courses, both will take another crack at the Cortina d’Ampezzo course for the super-G.
Collinda Joseph and the 3-0 Canadian wheelchair curling team will also be back in action in the morning draw in Italy, taking on Latvia.
And Rob Armstrong, Anton Jacobs-Webb and Tyrone Henry will seek to keep the Canadian para ice hockey train firing following an 8-0 tournament-opening victory when they take on Japan.
Ottawa at the Paralympics Newsletter
The Ottawa Sports Pages will produce an Ottawa at the Paralympics Newsletter throughout the March 6-15 Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games, featuring daily recaps, previews and competition schedules. Sign up to receive it in your inbox for free below.
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