Canadian athletes embracing Paralympic momentum with Milan-Cortina Winter Games in sight

Natalie Wilkie was on her flight to Norway for a landmark competition when a man next to her struck up conversation.

As the plane sat delayed in the runway, he asked Wilkie why she was headed to the central European country.

She explained she would be competing in the Nordic World Ski Championships — for the first time, Para events will be held alongside able-bodied races, and she is the lone Canadian competing on the Para side.

His response took her by surprise.

"He knew so much about the Paralympics and he didn't say Para Olympics, he didn't say Olympics. And I just thought that was really cool," Wilkie said.

"It's kinda sad I was surprised."

Wilkie went on to win silver in the one-kilometre spring classic event at the first day of worlds on Wednesday, while Thursday marks exactly one year to go until the 2026 Milano-Cortina Paralympics kick off with an opening ceremony in the Arena Di Verona.

For athletes, these Games represent a breath of fresh air after the 2022 Beijing Paralympics were marred by the pandemic. The prior two Games, Pyeongchang 2018 and Sochi 2014, took place halfway across the world for Canadians and with additional complications of their own.

And so, like the Paris Games on the summer side, Italy is a chance to once again celebrate the Paralympics and re-ignite the world's awareness around Para sport, so that athletes like Wilkie are no longer surprised when strangers understand and engage with their competition.

"He found the Paralympics almost more interesting, in that it was the same sports but completely different with the different classifications and adaptations that Para sports often have from able-bodied sports," Wilkie said.

"The way he was talking about it, I could tell he had spent a lot