Mark Ideson

Ideson played a major role in Canada’s bronze medal success at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.

He now returns again to skip the national squad at the 2019 World Championships in Stirling, Great Britain.

His experience will prove vital. Ideson was an important part of the Canadian team that captured Paralympic gold at Sochi 2014, just four years after taking up the sport. He played lead for Canada at the 2017 Worlds, where Canada finished fifth. It was a two-spot improvement from their 2016 showing and proving that Canada should not be counted out of a medal in PyeongChang.

In 2007, Ideson was involved in a helicopter crash, leaving him with multiple fractures in his legs, pelvis, sternum, ribs, nose and neck, resulting in a spinal cord injury and quadriplegia. He was inspired to try curling after watching an interview with Olympic skeleton champion Jon Montgomery talking about taking up a sport that he could excel at and represent Canada in at the highest level.