Para-nordic athlete Collin Cameron tops Canada's 3-medal Sunday in Finland

Canada's Para-nordic athletes celebrated a triple-medal Sunday in the skate-ski sprint races at a World Cup event in Vuokatti, Finland.

Collin Cameron of Bracebridge, Ont., captured his first victory of the season in the men's sit-ski race, while Christina Picton of Fonthill, Ont., and Natalie Wilkie, from Salmon Arm, B.C., sprinted to back-to-back silver.

Cameron boasts five career wins, including a 2019 world championship title.

"I'm really happy with how the day went," the 34-year-old told Nordiq Canada. "It's a very different course than usual, so it was a great opportunity to play with some different race tactics and try and transfer a lot of the work from the summer."

Cameron, one of the most respected athletes in the Para-nordic world, took advantage of slick boards to control the field in each of his three rips around the 800-metre Vuokatti track.

He set the top qualifying time, leading the 12 fastest skiers into the head-to-head heats and was first across the finish line in the semifinals and final.

"The course was really narrow, so I was pretty focused on biding my time until an opportunity opened up just off a small downhill and really pushed that area," said Cameron. "I was able to get passed two guys that started ahead of me. From there it was just ski well and hard to the finish straight, and then hard to the line."

Yerbol Khamitov of Kazakhstan, joined Cameron on the medal podium in second place, while Ukraine's Taras Rad skied to bronze.

Derek Zaplotinsky, of Smoky Lake, Alta., was seventh and Ethan Hess of Whistler, B.C., 15th.

In the women's sit-ski sprint competition, Christina Picton celebrated her second World Cup podium in as many days.

"Sprint day is always a blast. The fast-paced action is