Talk about a great start to the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia for Sault Ste. Marie’s Mac Marcoux.
The 16-year-old Sault Ste. Marie native, competing in his first event of the games, will be coming home with a bronze medal after finishing third in the visually-impaired downhill competition.
Marcoux finished the the event with a time of 1:23:02, which was just over three-tenths of a second faster than Slovakia’s Jakub Krako or Slovakia.
Marcoux’s medal was the first for Canada at the Paralympic Games.
The medal was also the first of two medals today for Canada as Josh Dueck took silver in the sitting downhill race.
For Marcoux, the medal comes just days after his brother BJ was forced to withdraw as his guide from the competition due to a back injury.
Mac was guided by Robin Femy, a former downhill racer.
Femy will be Mac’s guide throughout the games.
Mac is scheduled to compete in four other events over the next eight days, including:
- March 9 - Super G at 10:00 a.m. (1:00 a.m. Sault)
- March 11 - Super Combined at 10:25 a.m. (1:15 a.m. Sault)
- March 13 - Slalom at 4:00 p.m. (7:00 a.m. Sault)
- March 15 - GS at 9:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. Sault)