Decorated Para hockey player Billy Bridges is about to make his international debut in summer sport. Bridges will throw javelin and shot put in the Parapan American Games.
The six-time Canadian hockey Paralympian — and winner of four medals including gold — has flipped from team sport on ice to an individual field event. "So new.
I feel like such a rookie," Bridges told The Canadian Press. The 2023 Parapan American Games open Friday in Santiago, Chile, on the heels of the Pan American Games in that city.
A Canadian team of almost 500 athletes won 164 medals, including 46 gold, in the Pan Am Games that closed Nov. 5. Bridges is among 140 Canadian para athletes competing in 14 sports — track and field, swimming, cycling, rugby, basketball, tennis, shooting, judo, badminton, boccia, table tennis, soccer, goalball and archery — until Nov.