Paralympic wake-up call: Canada kickstarts Beijing Games with a medal of each colour

Canadian athletes wasted no time getting their hands on medals, collecting honours of all colours on Day one of competition at the Beijing 2022 Paralympics between Friday evening and Saturday morning.

Alpine skier Mollie Jepsen of West Vancouver, B.C., secured Canada's first gold medal by completing the women's standing downhill in one minute 21.75 seconds.

The 22-year-old capitalized on eight-time Paralympic gold medallist Marie Bochet of France not finishing the race, having lost one of her skis seconds into the event.

It was the dream start for Jepsen's second Paralympics, having claimed one gold, one silver and two bronze in PyeongChang 2018. Months after those Games, she was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, making a full recovery since.

WATCH l Jepsen captures gold for Canada's 1st Paralympics medal of Beijing 2022:

Two other decorated Canadian Paralympians made sure it wouldn't end with Jepsen's gold.

Mac Marcoux of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., collected his sixth medal over now three Games with a silver on the men's visually impaired downhill race.

The 22-year-old, who won the same event at PyeongChang 2018, posted a time of one minute 13.81 seconds in his first race in over two years.

The long break was caused by injuries and pandemic-related cancellations.

WATCH l Marcoux claims silver in downhill visually impaired:

Shortly after, Mark Arendz struck bronze in the men's Para biathlon 6-kilometre sprint standing event for his ninth overall Paralympic medal.

The 32-year-old Hartsville, P.E.I., native overcame two shooting penalties to finish with a time of 18 minutes 8 seconds.

Arendz kept his Paralympic momentum going from four years ago, having captured a medal in every event he competed in at PyeongChang 2018.

Read more about Jepsen's gold medal, as well as Marcoux's silver and Arendz's bronze.

Here's more of what you missed on Saturday:

Different moods in team sports openers

Canada's men's Para ice hockey team is coming into Beijing 2022 with hopes of reclaiming a gold medal for the first time in 16 years.

But a shocking 5-0 defeat to rivals U.S. surely wasn't in their plans to start the Paralympic tournament, in a rematch of the 2018 gold-medal game.

The Canadian squad is guaranteed a place in the knockout stage regardless of its final position in the three-team group that also features South Korea.

Finishing in the top two would lead Canada straight to the semifinals while a third-place seed would mean a spot in the quarter-finals.

Canada will next face South Korea on Tuesday at 12:05 a.m. ET.

Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic and China will battle for three quarter-final berths in group B.

Read more about Canada's shutout loss to the U.S. here.

WATCH l Canada shut out by U.S. in ice hockey opener at Beijing Paralympics:

In other team sport action, Canada's wheelchair curling team got off to a perfect start.

The Canadians defeated defending Paralympic champion China 7-3 in their opening draw.

WATCH l Canada beats reigning Wheelchair Curling Paralympic champions China:

Canadian co-flag-bearer Ina Forrest, Mark Ideson, Dennis Thiessen and Jon Thurston returned to the ice on Saturday, and claimed an 8-4 victory over Switzerland in their second of 10 round-robin games.

At PyeongChang 2018, Canada finished second in round robin play with a 9-2 record before losing 3-2 to China in a semifinal. The Canadian team bounced back to claim bronze with a 5-3 win over South Korea.

WATCH | Canada doubles up on Switzerland for 2nd Paralympic win:

Ukraine sends message with 1st gold

Ukraine's Grygorii Vovchynskyi delivered a very important message after claiming gold in the same event in which Canada's Arendz captured the bronze. It was Ukraine's first time topping the podium at these Games.

'Please stop war in Ukraine,' he said after winning the men's Para biathlon 6km sprint standing event.

WATCH l Vovchynskyi wins Ukraine's 1st gold medal of Beijing Paralympics:

The country, days into a military invasion launched by Russian president Vladimir Putin, also had something to celebrate in the Para biathlon 6km sprint vision impaired race.

Vitali Lukianenko, Oleksandr Kazik and Dmytro Suiarko made it a stunning Ukrainian sweep, winning gold, silver and bronze, respectively.

Slovakia captures 1st gold medal

Henrieta Farkasova of Slovakia collected the first Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games gold medal with a time of one minute 19.50 seconds in the visually impaired downhill.

Farkasova added a 10th gold medal to her impressive Paralympic career haul that also features two silver and a bronze.

WATCH l Recap of The Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games opening ceremony: