Natalie Wilkie, Tyler McGregor to be Canada’s flag-bearers at Winter Paralympics

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Natalie Wilkie and Tyler McGregor have been selected as Canada’s opening ceremony flag-bearers for the Milan Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games.HO/The Canadian Press

A bit of friendly deception helped surprise Natalie Wilkie and Tyler McGregor with news they will carry Canada’s flag to open the Milan Cortina Paralympic Winter Games next week.

The two thought they were logging on earlier this week for routine media interviews with the Canadian Paralympic Committee.

Instead, CPC chief sport officer Catherine Gosselin-Despres and Milan Cortina 2026 honorary captain Mac Marcoux were waiting to tell them they had been chosen as Canada’s flag bearers for March 6.

“It was shocking, I think to both of us,” said McGregor, who is co-captain of the para hockey team. “But we were so pleased to receive that call, and it was an exciting time for sure.”

For Wilkie, a nordic skiing star, being named flag bearer was hardly even a consideration.

“This is something that I’ve been dreaming of for a long time. And it’s not something that I ever expected to happen. When I got the news, I was pretty shocked. I was so focused on Paralympic prep and everything that I hadn’t really given the thought of flag-bearer,” she said.

Gosselin-Despres said it took careful planning to pull off the surprise, informing McGregor on Tuesday and Wilkie the next day.

“It’s always a great part of our job to be able to do that, right?” she said. “We rehearsed a little bit and then waited for their reaction. … It’s just the best part of what we do, selecting flag-bearers. And we couldn’t have better candidates.”

The ceremony will take place at the Arena Di Verona – the same site as the Olympics closing ceremony. However, since Verona is not a competition cluster venue for the Paralympics, Wilkie and McGregor will carry the flags inside their respective villages instead.

Wilkie’s cross-country ski competitions take place in Tesero, near Cortina, while McGregor will suit up at the Milano Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena, where the Olympic hockey competitions also took place.

Both said they would be together in spirit.

“We’re going to make the most of it, and it’ll be a different experience, but exciting nonetheless,” McGregor said.

Action at the Paralympics begins Wednesday with the start of the wheelchair curling tournaments.

The Canadian flag-bearers will each compete on March 7, the Games’ official Day 1, as McGregor and the hockey team open their round-robin slate against Slovakia while Wilkie lines up for the women’s standing biathlon sprint.

Canada is sending 50 athletes to the Paralympics as it looks to build on a 25-medal, eight-gold performance at Beijing 2022, finishing third in the gold-medal standings for the fourth consecutive Winter Games.

Wilkie, the 25-year-old from Salmon Arm, B.C., has been a major part of that success since her debut at Pyeongchang 2018, when she was the youngest athlete on Team Canada.

She took home a medal of each colour at her first Paralympics, then followed it up with a four-medal performance, including two golds at Beijing 2022.

“Every day is a new day, and I try to take that into my races as well. Just not going in with any expectations because obviously, results are out of our control. All we can do is show up and do our best and trust our training and our preparation, and the medals follow, I think,” Wilkie said.

“So my motto is always just to have fun, and going into these Games, I’m really just excited to have a good experience, ski in a really nice area.”

Now competing in her third Games, Wilkie said she sees herself as a leader and hopes to pass down knowledge just as Canadian Paralympics legend Brian McKeever once did for her.

McKeever now works as the cross-country coach after retiring following Beijing.

“In Pyeongchang, I was the baby of the team and just like wide-eyed, trying to like soak in the experience and learn from those around me,” Wilkie said.

“It’s kind of shifted for me. I’m more in that role now that I’m a bit more experienced, my third Paralympics. And I feel like I can almost be that person in a lead-by-example mentorship role for the younger athletes on my team.”

McGregor, the 31-year-old from Forest, Ont., is entering his fourth Paralympics. After taking bronze in his 2014 debut, the hockey team has followed it up with two silver medals – both in championship-game losses to the U.S.

However, there are some reasons to think McGregor, who is co-captain alongside veteran Greg Westlake, can help change that in Milan.

Canada’s lone Paralympic gold medal in the sport came 20 years ago, also in Italy. And it was just two years ago when Canada broke a seven-year title drought at the world championship, beating the Americans in the final.

“The vibes are high. There’s a lot of belief within this team right now,” McGregor said. “We have a perfect mix of experience and youth. And we have 17 players that are just ready to give everything they have.”

That will be the same message McGregor and Wilkie hope to convey through the opening ceremony, even if they won’t be standing next to one another.

“I’m so proud to be Canadian. I love our country so much,” McGregor said. “And to have the opportunity to represent Canada at the Paralympic Games, now heading into my fourth Games, this one feels different.”