Mark Arendz OPEI (born March 3, 1990) is a Canadian biathlon and Para-Nordic skier. He was disabled at the age of seven when his arm got caught in the blades of a grain auger. He participated in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Paralympics and won 8 medals in total, including gold in the men's 15km biathlon standing at the 2018 games.[1][2]
 Mark Arendz (2014) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | March 3, 1990 Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 193 cm (6 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 75 kg (165 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country | Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Paralympic biathlon, Para-Nordic skiing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| Updated on 18 March 2018. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Early life edit
Arendz was born on 3 March 1990 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. At the age of seven, he lost his left arm when he lost his balance putting corn into a grain auger. His arm up to his shoulder was caught in the blades and later amputated in Halifax. After the accident, he worked as a junior counselor for the War Amps organization.[1] He also went to Nicaragua with the non-profit organization SchoolBOX to help build a school for the community who had to move.[3]
Career edit
At his first Paralympics in Vancouver 2010, Arendz participated in six races but did not medal.[4]
During the 2014 Winter Paralympics, he received silver and bronze medals for the 7.5 kilometres standing and the 12.5 kilometres standing respectively.[5] Arendz entered the 7.5 km standing biathlon as the defending champion. He came second in the event, seven tenths of a second behind gold medalist Vladislav Lekomtcev of Russia. Azat Karachurin, also from Russia, took bronze in the event.[4][6] The weather conditions were not good as it rained with heavy fog for the 12.5 kilometre race. Arendz finished the race in 30:24:6 while the defending world champion Azat Karachurin of Russia took gold again. Arendz became the first Canadian to win two biathlon medals at the Winter Paralympics.[4][7] After the games, his former ski club, Brookvale Nordic Ski Centre, renamed a ski trail in Brookvale, P.E.I after him, boasting this is where he trained. Arendz hopes the new ski trail will encourage more people to give biathlon and cross country skiing a try.[8]
At the 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea Arendz won a Canadian single Games record[9] 6 medals, 5 individual and a team relay medal, including biathlon gold, silver and bronze and his first cross-country medals, and was honoured as Canada's flag-bearer for the Games closing ceremony.[10]
He won the bronze medal in the men's 6 kilometres standing event at the 2022 Winter Paralympics held in Beijing, China.[11]
References edit
- ^ a b "Mark Arendz | Canadian Paralympic Committee". Canadian Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
- ^ "Mark Arendz". Athlete's profile. Pyeongchang 2018. Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
- ^ Ross, Ryan (13 May 2014). "Mark Arendz continues to inspire". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
- ^ a b c "Canada's Mark Arendz Battles To Biathlon Bronze At Paralympic Winter Games". Canadian Paralympic Committee. 11 March 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
- ^ "Paralympic Results & Historical Records". paralympic.org. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
- ^ Hicks, Brandon (8 March 2014). "Mark Arendz takes silver in Paralympic biathlon". CBC Sports. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
- ^ Brandon, Hicks (11 March 2014). "Mark Arendz wins biathlon bronze at Paralympics". CBC news. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
- ^ CBC News. "Paralympian Mark Arendz honoured with ski trail". CBC. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
- ^ Heroux, Devin (March 18, 2018). "Greatness abounds as Canadians smash country's Paralympic medal record". CBC Sports. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
- ^ "Mark Arendz named Canada's flag-bearer for Paralympics closing ceremony". CBC Sports. March 17, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
- ^ Lloyd, Owen (5 March 2022). "Ukraine top Beijing 2022 Paralympics medals table after opening day with three biathlon golds". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
External links edit
- Mark Arendz at the Canadian Paralympic Committee
- Mark Arendz at the International Paralympic Committee
- Mark Arendz at IPC.InfostradaSports.com (archived)