Following the historic and widely watched gold-medal triumph from Canada’s wheelchair curling team at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Games, Curling Canada is pleased to announce the first cohort of Canadian athletes selected to the recently launched Wheelchair Curling Pathway (WCP).
Establishing the inaugural cohort in the expanded WCP comes at a peak for wheelchair curling in Canada. Now more than ever, viewership, participation, and competition are growing and thriving nationwide.
The 2026-2027 season marks the inclusion of 41 of Canada’s many wheelchair curling athletes across the competitive pathway as they each explore a future in high-performance wheelchair curling—nearly tripling the size of last season’s cohort.
“There is tangible momentum in the Canadian wheelchair curling community right now, and we’re eager to continue to expand on that,” said Kyle Paquette, Director of Wheelchair Curling at Curling Canada. “The parasport movement is getting louder, stronger, and bigger. We believe in strength in numbers, and our numbers are growing.”
The WCP is committed to supporting athletes in reaching their full potential on the international stage while strengthening the community that that surrounds and supports them.
Designed as a tiered, long-term development approach, the WCP is built around two major parts: the Podium Program and the Pursuit Program.
The Podium Program is Canada’s highest level of support for wheelchair curling athletes with the capacity to succeed at the international level. The program is structured into three integrated streams—Medal, Top 6, and International Levels—each with distinct but connected objectives.
Medal Athletes:
- Collinda Joseph (Stittsville, Ont. – home coach: Gerry Peckham)
- Gilbert Dash (Kipling, Sask. – home coach: Ben Gamble)
- Ina Forrest (Spallumcheen, B.C. – home coach: Sharon Morrison)
- Jon Thurston (Dunsford, Ont. – home coach: Carl Rennick)
- Mark Ideson (London, Ont. – home coach: Mick Lizmore)
Top 6:
- Chrissy Molnar (Trent Lakes, Ont. – home coach: Carl Rennick)
- Douglas Dean (Thunder Bay, Ont. – home coaches: Doug Gelmich and Rick Lang)
- Terry Fowler (Cochrane, Alta. – home coaches: Dana Ferguson and Martin Purvis)
International Level:
- Billy Bridges (Mississauga, Ont. – home coach: Graeme McCarrel)
- Jill Hopkins (Toronto, Ont. – home coach: Wendy Morgan)
- Karl Allen (Keene, Ont. – home coach: Carl Rennick)
- Marie Wright (Moose Jaw, Sask. – home coach: Ben Gamble)
- Reid Mulligan (Ottawa – home coach: Gerry Peckham)
Athletes across all three streams are part of a unified performance environment focused on collaboration and continuous improvement.
“For athletes, the WCP means having a clear and defined route from grassroots participation all the way to the possibility of one day wearing the Maple Leaf,” said Thurston. “When I started competing, that road was far less defined. The dedicated staff behind this program have continued to evolve it to be transparent and accessible.
“The timing of the WCP’s launch couldn’t be better as we continue to build off of the momentum of our performance at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Games.”
At the foundation of the pathway is the Pursuit Program, the first stage of support for high-performance wheelchair curling. Designed to be inclusive and developmentally appropriate, the program is structured into three streams—Transition, Confirmation, and the Identification Stream.
Transition:
- LeeAnn Cayer (Port Robinson, Ont. – home coach: Paula Mann)
- Mark Kennedy (Saskatoon, Sask.)
- Sarah Benevides (Chance Harbour, N.B. – home coach: Wayne Cooper)
Confirmation:
- Ashley Baerg (Saskatoon, Sask. – home coach: Ben Gamble)
- Julianna Sullivan-Rothfeld (Ottawa – home coach: Gerry Peckham)
- Mathew Abbott (Peterborough, Ont. – home coach: Don Fleming)
- Paul Allen (Crediton, Ont.)
- Pete Andrews (Saskatoon, Sask. – home coach: Ben Gamble)
- Stuart Houlahan (Wellington, Ont. – home coach: Don Fleming)
The 2026-2027 Pursuit Identification cohort includes 19 athletes and six coaches from across Canada. This stream is designed to create an encouraging and accessible entry point for those interested in pursuing the high-performance pathway. It is focused on introducing athletes to the foundational concepts of high performance while helping them explore their potential for future progression within the sport.
Overall, the Pursuit Program aims to provide training, competition exposure, and individualized support to help athletes experience and learn about what’s necessary to succeed at the next level and to assess how this pursuit fits with their goals.
Together, both the Podium and Pursuit programs are designed to strengthen Canada’s future in wheelchair curling while supporting athletes pursuing high-performance competition.
“A recurring theme in wheelchair curling is the importance of community,” said Paquette. “This sentiment was shared by the inaugural winners of Curling Canada’s Wheelchair Curling Sport Leadership Award, athletes in post-game interviews, during online engagements, and by coaches and supporters of the sport at various levels. The people in this community are starting to lock arms and work together in pushing the sport forward, and it’s being felt by the broader sport community.”
Wheelchair curling has one of the strongest proportional participation bases within Canada when comparing able-bodied (Olympic) sport and its parallel (Paralympic) discipline.
“We continue to strive to be leaders in parasport and give kudos to organizations like Athletics Canada and Swimming Canada who are leading the charge,” said Paquette. “This revitalized pathway is a celebration of wheelchair curling’s growth over the years. We are consistently progressing, and we have an exciting chapter ahead.”
The WCP is led by Curling Canada’s wheelchair curling High-Performance Leadership Team, which includes Director of Wheelchair Curling Kyle Paquette, National Program Head Coach Mick Lizmore, National Program Mixed Doubles Coach Dana Ferguson, National Program Integrated Support Team Lead Kyle Turcotte, and Executive Director of High Performance David Murdoch.
The WCP strives to be inclusive and is always looking to expand, with prospective athletes invited to submit declaration forms throughout the year. To fill out a declaration form, click here.
For more information on the WCP, click here.
