Imagen
a male Para Nordic skier

Mark Arendz

Nordic Skiing
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4
6

Mark Arendz had a promising start to the season. The Canadian won gold in the men’s cross-country middle distance standing at the World Cup in Vuokatti, Finland. He also claimed two silvers and one bronze in biathlon.

It was his return to competition after a superb performance at PyeongChang 2018, where he became the first Canadian to win six medals overall at a single edition of the Winter Paralympics.

Arendz won his maiden Winter Paralympic title in the biathlon long distance. The Nordic skier went on to seal silver in the biathlon sprint and cross-country mixed relay; and bronze in the biathlon middle distance, and cross-country middle distance and sprint races.

Before that, Arendz celebrated two golds, one silver and one bronze at Finsterau 2017, his best performance at a World Championships. He was the fastest in both the biathlon middle distance and sprint events.

He also finished second in the 2016-2017 Biathlon World Cup overall rankings.

Arendz has competed at two other Paralympic Winter Games: Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014, where he won one silver and one bronze in biathlon. He was also named 2014 Senior Male Athlete of the Year in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

He first tried skiing at age five. Two years later, he was involved in a farm accident which resulted in the amputation of his left arm above the elbow. He was attempting to put corn into a corn auger and lost his balance.

Arendz still continued practising the sport, even taking part in able-bodied skiing competitions. After watching the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Games, he became especially interested in biathlon.

He developed a deep sense of community after neighbouring farmers, friends and strangers from his hometown helped his family while he was recovering from the amputation of his arm following his accident.

"After my accident, I quickly witnessed how a community comes together through a traumatic time. Since then I have always been driven to give back to that community.”

In 2014 he worked with charitable organisation SchoolBOX in Nicaragua, where he helped build a school for a community that had been affected by a landslide.

Results

Unit Date Rank
Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games (Vancouver, Canada)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Men's 12.5 km Individual Standing Final Round 16
Men's 1x4 / 2x5 km Relay Open Final Round 7
Men's 20 km Standing Final Round 9999
Men's 10 km Standing Final Round 12
Men's 1 km Sprint Standing Qualification 9
Men's 3 km Pursuit Standing Final Round 7
Men's 3 km Pursuit Standing Qualification 7
IPC Nordic Skiing World Championships Solleftea (Solleftea, Sweden)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Men's Sprint - Classic Standing Final 2013-02-25 12
Men's Short Distance Standing Final 2013-02-28 1
Men's Middle Distance Standing Final 2013-03-01 3
Men's Long Distance Standing Final 2013-03-03 3
Paralympic Winter Games 2014 (Sochi, Russia)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Men's 7.5 km Standing Final Round 2014-03-08 2
Men's 12.5 km Standing Final Round 2014-03-11 3
Men's 15 km Standing Final Round 2014-03-14 11
Men's 10 km Standing Final Round 2014-03-16 11
2015 IPC Nordic Skiing World Championships Cable (Cable, United States of America)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Men's Short Distance Standing Race 1 2015-01-24 6
Men's Middle Distance Standing Race 1 2015-01-27 5
Men's Long Distance Standing Race 1 2015-01-30 11
Men's Middle Distance - Classic Standing Race 1 2015-01-31 4
Mixed Relay Final 2015-02-01 4
2017 IPC Nordic skiing World Championships Finsterau, GER (Finsterau, Germany)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Men's Middle Distance Standing Final 2017-02-11 1
Men's Long Distance Standing Final 2017-02-14 2
Open Relay Final 2017-02-15 3
Men's Long Distance - Classic Standing Final 2017-02-16 5
Men's Sprint Standing Final 2017-02-18 1
Men's Middle Distance - Free Style Standing Final 2017-02-19 3
Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games (Pyeongchang, South Korea)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Men's 7.5km Standing Final 2018-03-10 2
Men's 12.5km Standing Final 2018-03-13 3
Men's 1.5km Sprint Classic Standing Final 2018-03-14 3
Men's 15km Standing Final 2018-03-16 1
Men's 10km Classic Standing Final 2018-03-17 3
4x2.5km Mixed Relay Final 2018-03-18 2
Prince George 2019 World Para Nordic Skiing Championships (Prince George, Canada)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Men's Middle Distance Standing Final 2019-02-16 3
Men's Middle Distance - Free Style Standing Final 2019-02-17 2
Men's Sprint Standing Final 2019-02-20 3
Men's Long Distance Standing Final 2019-02-21 2
Mixed Relay Final 2019-02-23 2
Men's Long Distance - Classic Standing Final 2019-02-24 2
Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games (Beijing, China)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Men's Sprint Standing Final 2022-03-05 3
Men's Long Distance Classic Standing Final 2022-03-07 4
Men's Middle Distance Standing Final 2022-03-08 1
Men's Individual Standing Final Round 2022-03-11 2
Men's Middle Distance Free Standing Final 2022-03-12 7
Mixed 4x2.5km Relay Final 2022-03-13 3