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Prince Albert's Krystle Shewchuk with her bronze medal at the 2023 Canada Winter Games. (Team Sask/Facebook)
Bringing home hardware

P.A.’s Shewchuk wins bronze at Canada Winter Games, named flag bearer for closing ceremonies

Mar 5, 2023 | 1:51 PM

Prince Albert’s Krystle Shewchuk isn’t coming home from the Canada Winter Games empty-handed.

The 33-year-old is bringing home a bronze medal in cross-country skiing (5km [Interval Start] Para-Nordic Sitting Female) which she won yesterday after posting a time of 24:28.8. She finished just ahead of BC’s Lily Brook who crossed the line at 25:16.1.

“It was a huge relief (to win),” she said. “I had trouble in a couple of my corners, so I was quite surprised when Tanya (Gallant) let me know when I got a medal so I was pretty excited.”

Shewchuk also participated in two other cross-country skiing events, 2.5 km [Interval Start] Para-Nordic Sitting Female and Sprints Para-Nordic Sitting Female, where she finished fourth in both races.

After winning her bronze medal on Saturday, she was selected to be the flag bearer for Team Saskatchewan at the closing ceremonies of the games. When asked about her reaction to the news, she said it came out of the blue.

“I was a little bit shocked,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting it, but it’s pretty awesome. I’ll be pretty nervous but I’m pretty excited for it.”

She also talked about what it meant to be named flag bearer after representing Sask. at four different Canada games.

“It’s really special, especially when these are the last (games) before I age out,” Shewchuk explained. “I’ve been training really hard for this moment and stuff like that, and I’m grateful for that. It’s been a long road.”

This bronze medal wasn’t her first on the national stage either, as she claimed a silver medal in sailing at the 2022 Summer Games and another bronze in skiing at the 2019 Winter Games. She also competed in the 2017 Summer Games but came home empty-handed.

The closing ceremonies for the games get underway at 5:30 p.m CT and take place inside the Eastlink Centre in Charlottetown, PEI.

logan.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @lloganlehmann

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