Kipling’s Gilbert Dash representing Canada at Paralympics for first time

Gilbert Dash will look to help bring another curling gold medal to Canada this year.

The Kipling, Sask., product will be one of the members of this year’s Team Canada mixed wheelchair curling team at the Paralympics in Italy.

“It’s very exciting to get to represent Canada at the Paralympics. There are so many good wheelchair curlers across Canada, and getting chosen really makes me feel proud. There’s some weight to it – putting that Maple Leaf on and wanting to do really well for your country,” Dash said.

Dash isn’t a stranger to representing Canada on the world stage, playing second on Team Canada for the 2024 and 2023 world championships, finishing in second.

He was then the skip for the team in 2025. He will be the fifth (alternate) for this year’s Paralympic Games – his first appearance at one.

The 57-year-old said one of the big differences from Worlds to the Paralympics is how many more people are watching.

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“I just want to do well. I mean, it’s kind of the same. The other countries are so good these days and we just want to do really well. We do want to podium. We want the gold. It’s hard to do and we’ve been training hard, so that’s where we’re at right now,” Dash said.

Growing up in small town Saskatchewan, Dash was at the rink a lot either playing curling or hockey.

While curling has been something he has done his whole life, it took on a new meaning after a ski jumping crash in 2006. That crash damaged his spinal cord. While at a rehab centre, wheelchair curling was brought up as a sport and soon he joined and helped grow the community.

Gilbert Dash (far left) and the rest of Team Canada will look for gold at the Paralympics in Italy. (Curling Canada/Anil Mungal)

That sense of community has meant a lot to Dash.

“You get to curl your small town, in your small cities. You get to curl around the world against the best competition. I’m a competitive guy. I want to do well. We do get to see some other countries and some traditions, and like you often see with the able bodied, there’s lots of friendships between players from different countries,” Dash said “So it’s good mentally come off an injury and you’re looking like a life-altering injury, looking for something to do keep you busy, and many people I feel have benefited mentally because of being able to be competitive and be in a good community of wheelchair curling around the province and the country in the world.”

While he no longer lives in Kipling, the small town is proud of the accomplishments he has had. Dash has even been told the town will be adding a “Home of Gilbert Dash” to their town sign.

“It feels like an accomplishment for myself, and it feels like the people from the town of Kipling and area care about me and that they’ve been supporting me for years, it’s a great feeling. I don’t know what else to say, other than it’s just really good to have the backing of all the people and everyone following along with me,” Dash said.

The Paralympics run from March 6 to 15 with the mixed doubles and mixed team curling going on throughout nearly the entirety of the games.

As a first-time participant in the event, he’s gotten to know what to expect.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations and meetings and whatnot with our team and our management, we have a good idea of what the able-bodied teams have experienced through through them them, and we’ve also got a lot of players and coaching staff that have been to the Paralympics before on our team, so they’ve told me a lot of stuff, and we’ve been working with mental trainers and how to deal with things,” Dash said. “In today’s day and age, there’s lots of videos out there, so I’ve seen quite a bit of stuff from Cortina and all kinds of things from what food we’re going to have, we’ve got a list of what the menu is in the village and we’ve got videos of where we’re staying.”

And it would mean a lot to bring a gold medal back home.

“It would be a huge accomplishment. It’ll be something very nice for me to bring back to acknowledge all the coaches that I’ve had,” Dash said. “It’ll be fulfilment, and it’ll be an honour to be able to show them that medal, and also the country of Canada to be proud of showing good for your country.”