Paralympic viewing guide: Canadians poised for quick medals

This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Stay up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing here.

The Paralympic Winter Games have begun, and Canadians will challenge for medals right away

Today's opening ceremony at the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing took place just a day after all athletes from Russia and Belarus were expelled over their countries' roles in the ongoing attack on Ukraine. As the Russians and Belarusians headed home, Ukraine's team of 29 athletes entered the stadium for the Parade of Nations led by flag-bearer Maksym Yarovyi, a silver medallist in biathlon at the 2014 Paralympics in Russia.

Canada's flag was carried by Para hockey player Greg Westlake and wheelchair curler Ina Forrest, who have won a combined six Paralympic medals, including three gold. They were chosen to lead a Canadian team of 49 athletes (including four guides for the visually impaired) that will try to build on the national-record 28 medals won four years ago in South Korea. Read more about the opening ceremony and watch highlights here.

Competition begins tonight at 9 p.m. ET, and several Canadians have chances to win medals right off the bat. Here are some of the top contenders to watch from tonight through Monday morning:

Alpine skiing

Canada has a good shot to grab some quick medals in the downhill events, which start tonight at 9 p.m. ET and include men's and women's races in the standing, sitting and visually impaired divisions. 

Mac Marcoux is the defending Paralympic champion in the men's visually impaired downhill and owns a total of five Paralympic medals, including two gold. But he could be a bit rusty as, due to an injury, this is his first race of the season.

Mollie Jepsen won four medals as an 18-year-old at the 2018 Games, including bronze in the women's standing downhill. She also grabbed a downhill bronze at the World Para Snow Sports Championships in January, where she won three medals. Another Canadian to watch in the nine-person field is Alana Ramsay, who won bronze in two other events at the 2018 Paralympics.

Katie Combaluzier is a podium threat in the women's sitting downhill after taking bronze at the para snow sports worlds, where she won three medals to match Jepsen for the Canadian alpine lead.

The super-G races go Saturday at 9 p.m. ET, and Canada looks good here too. Marcoux won a Paralympic bronze in this event in 2014 and a world title in 2017. Ramsay took Paralympic bronze in 2018. Also, Jepsen's and Combaluzier's downhill success bodes well for them in this similar discipline.

Nordic skiing (cross-country and biathlon)

Biathlon is up first. The women's and men's 6km sprint events in all three categories (standing, sitting and visually impaired) go tonight starting at 9 p.m. ET. The men's standing event features Mark Arendz, who won a Canadian single-Games record six medals (three biathlon, three cross-country) at the last Paralympics to raise his career total to eight. Arendz, who plans to do a gruelling six races again in Beijing, took silver in the biathlon sprint at the last two Paralympics. In the men's sitting event, Collin Cameron looks to add to the three bronze medals he won in 2018.

Canada's most decorated Paralympian hits the snow Sunday at 9:35 p.m. ET, when cross-country skier Brian McKeever competes in the men's visually impaired 20km race. This is the sixth and final Games for the 42-year-old, who has racked up 13 gold medals and 17 total since 2002. McKeever won 20km gold medals at the last three Paralympics. Also, Arendz will compete in the men's standing 20km at 9 p.m. ET.

Hockey

Westlake and the Canadian team open the tournament with a marquee matchup vs. the United States on Friday night/Saturday morning at 12:05 a.m. ET. This is a rematch of the 2018 gold-medal game, which Canada lost in heartbreaking fashion. The Americans scored the tying goal with less than 40 seconds left in regulation, then won in overtime to capture their third consecutive Paralympic title.

Canada was also supposed to play on Saturday night vs. the Russian team, but that's obviously cancelled.

Wheelchair curling

Forrest and her Canadian teammates open the event Saturday at 1:35 a.m. ET vs. China, which beat them in the semifinals in 2018 en route to winning gold. The Canadians, who went on to defeat South Korea for bronze four years ago, then face Switzerland on Saturday at 6:35 a.m. ET, Latvia on Sunday at 1:35 a.m. ET, the United States on Sunday at 8:35 p.m. ET and Sweden on Monday at 6:35 a.m. ET. Learn more about Canada's team and the Paralympic tournament by watching That Curling Show with hosts Devin Heroux and Colleen Jones tonight at 8 p.m. ET on CBC Sports' YouTube channel. 

Snowboarding

All four Canadian riders at the Games will compete in the snowboard cross events, which begin with qualifying runs on Saturday starting at 10 p.m. ET. The elimination rounds get going Sunday at 10:30 p.m. ET and build towards the medal races a few hours later.

Canada has never won a Paralympic medal in snowboarding, which was added to the program in 2014. But that could change in Beijing after Tyler Turner, Lisa DeJong, Alex Massie and Sandrine Hamel combined to capture eight medals, including three gold, at the World Para Snow Sports Championships in January. Turner's three medals included gold in men's snowboard cross, while DeJong took silver in women's snowboard cross.

How to watch live events

They're being streamed on CBC Sports' Beijing 2022 website, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem. See the full streaming schedule here, including links to watch events when they go live. You can also watch Paralympic action daily on the CBC TV network. See the full TV schedule here. Read more about CBC Sports' Paralympic coverage plans here. 

WATCH | What you missed from the opening ceremony:

Some non-Paralympic things you should know about

Canadian speed skater Laurent Dubreuil's world championship hopes were dashed by a positive COVID-19 test. Dubreuil was in position to become the first Canadian man in two decades to win the sprint world title after he placed first in yesterday's 500m and third in the 1,000m to grab the lead at the halfway mark of the four-leg competition. But the Olympic 1,000m silver medallist was forced to pull out of today's closing 500m and 1,000m legs in Norway after testing positive for COVID-19. Olympic 1,000m champion Thomas Krol of the Netherlands' won the men's title while Jutta Leerdam took the women's to make it a Dutch sweep. The world allround championships go Saturday and Sunday at the same track. Watch them live starting at 8 a.m. ET on both days on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.

Canada's Cameron Alexander pulled off a shocking downhill upset. The 24-year-old, who had never reached a podium at the top level of alpine skiing and did not even make the Canadian Olympic team, tied for the victory in today's World Cup race in Norway with Swiss skier Niels Hintermann. Alexander did this despite being the 39th skier down the course. Downhills are usually considered all but over after the top 30 skiers are done, but sunny conditions in Kvitfjell helped some lower-ranked athletes post better-than-expected results. Alexander's stunning win is the first by a Canadian in a World Cup downhill since Erik Guay's in 2014 — also at Kvitfjell. Read more about Alexander's upset and watch highlights here. 

The Brier starts tonight — but there's already trouble. Four unidentified players tested positive for COVID-19 before leaving for the Canadian men's curling championship in Lethbridge, Alta., Curling Canada announced today. The federation said that each of them plays on a different team and they might be able to join the tournament later, pending test results. Skip Brendan Bottcher and his Edmonton-based rink are the defending champions and are playing as Team Canada. Other big names in the 18-team field include four-time Brier champ Kevin Koe (Alberta), 2014 Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs (Northern Ontario), and 2006 Olympic champion and 2022 bronze medallist Brad Gushue. The three-time Brier winner's St. John's-based rink is one of the three wild-card teams.

You're up to speed. Have a good weekend.