Sask. athlete makes playoff run at World Wheelchair Curling Championships

Growing up in a small Prairie town, Team Canada wheelchair curling skip Gilbert Dash was no stranger to the ice.

"When I grew up in Kipling, Saskatchewan, the hockey rink and the curling rink were attached, the waiting room was in the middle, and I spent like a lot of time at the rink. I guess you'd call me a rink rat."

Dash continued curling on and off once he reached adulthood, but started taking the sport more seriously after a stint at the Wascana Rehabilitation Centre connected him with a staff member intent on starting a wheelchair curling program.

Now, having won silver at the last two World Wheelchair Curling Championships, Dash and his rink are getting ready for to complete against Slovakia in the bronze medal game Saturday at this year's version.

The bonspiel, being hosted in Stevenston, Scotland, is the last qualifying event for the 2026 Paralympic Games in Italy. Canada has already punched its ticket, having all but clinched a berth before the championships even began.

Still, when Dash — who is skipping the team for the first time — spoke to CBC Saskatchewan in the midst of the round robin, he wasn't looking too far ahead.

"We're here to make each shot so that we can get a W and win in the playoffs."

Wheelchair curling is a mixed-gender sport. Dash credits Marie Wright, a Saskatchewanian and longtime fixture within the national team program, as a strong influence on his career. The two still curl together on the team that won the provincial title this year and the national title at last year's tournament in Moose Jaw.

"I'm not the first one from Saskatchewan to be on the Paralympic team. Marie Wright was on the Paralympic team a few years back. So, I also think that Marie's making it there helped the sport a lot in Saskatchewan, helped others get interested. And so I'm hoping to make the team to go to the Paralympics and I hope that encourages more people in chairs to come out and curl." 

Saskatchewan continues to perform well at the national level. Winning nationals in 2024 means two rinks from the province will once again make their way to the 2025 edition, this time in Boucherville, Que.

One of the athletes who on that second team is Ashley Baerg of Dalmeny. Baerg is no stranger to para-sport, having started her athletics journey in 2004. She competed for Canada internationally in wheelchair basketball before finding waterskiing in 2013.

While she is not currently focused on making the national team in curling, she has committed to compete at the upcoming waterskiing world championships this winter in Australia and finds value in competing in multiple sports throughout the year.

Baerg said she was initially brought into wheelchair curling when Jon Thurston, one of her national waterskiing teammates who also curls on Dash's team, came to the province for a training camp and they threw a few rocks together. 

Baerg then attended nationals, where a typical para-sport recruiting process ensued. In para-sports — whether it's in a gym, a rink or on the water — athletes are always on the lookout for new teammates.