Canadian sit-skier Collin Cameron wins sprint gold at Para nordic World Cup finals

Collin Cameron of Bracebridge, Ont., won the gold medal Saturday in the men's sitting cross-country ski sprint at the Para nordic World Cup finals in Prince George, B.C.

Natalie Wilkie of Salmon Arm, B.C., captured a bronze medal in the women's standing sprint. That gives Canada six medals (three gold, one silver, two bronze) to stand third in the overall standings.

Cameron topped the six-man final in three minutes 1.31 seconds. Ukraine's Taras Rad was second in 3:02.21 while Brazil's Cristian Ribera finished third in 3:02.98.

"'I was just trying to keep it all together," said Cameron. "I could hear all those pole plants behind me and it was just so hard with the wet snow and the sun.

"I didn't want to have a breakdown in my technique."

Wilkie took third in the women's standing sprint with a time of 3:18.19. Norway's Vilde Nilsen of Norway was first in 3:11.48 with Liudmila Liashenko of Ukraine second in 3:14.70.

On Thursday, Wilkie was second in the five-kilometre event.

"It's a very satisfying bronze medal," she said. "'Usually I'm faster in sprinting but I really felt it out there and just didn't have it in the legs today."

Emma Archibald of Fall River, N.S., was sixth. Lyne-Marie Bilodeau of Sherbrooke, Que., was also sixth in the women's sitting final.