Alpine skier Mollie Jepsen named Canada's flag-bearer for Paralympics closing ceremony

Alpine skier Mollie Jepsen got things started for Canada at the Beijing Paralympics — now she'll lead the Canadian contingent to close out the 2022 Games.

The Canadian Paralympic Committee announced on Saturday that Jepsen, who won Canada's first medal of the Games with gold in the women's standing downhill, would be the country's flag-bearer for the closing ceremony of Beijing 2022.

Jepsen's time of one minute 21.75 seconds upgraded her from the bronze she won in the event four years ago.

"Usually, we ski courses a million times before racing it, but this is my fourth time on this particular track," Jepsen said, after Canada's first gold medal in China.

"I'm completely overwhelmed, I knew exactly what I wanted to do today, and I am happy to have put everything out there."

WATCH | Jepsen win's women's downhill standing gold:

In her second Games, the 22-year-old from West Vancouver, B.C., raced to silver in the standing giant slalom for her second podium appearance, which boosted her career total to six medals. 

At PyeongChang 2018, as one of Canada's breakout stars in her first Paralympics, Jepsen captured four medals — winning gold in super combined, a silver in slalom and a bronze in both downhill and giant slalom.

Just months following her success in Korea, Jepsen was diagnosed with Crohn's disease and missed the entire next season. Other injuries in the ensuing years would knock her out of competition until January 2020.

WATCH | Jepsen strikes giant slalom silver:

Due to COVID-19, the entire Canadian team didn't race once during the 2020-21 season.

"The last two years have been so crazy, so many ups and downs," Jepsen said, after winning gold at Beijing 2022."We were were able to spend a lot of time on home soil, [I