Forrest, Ideson look to lead Canada back to gold in wheelchair curling at Paralympics

Enjoyment has a hand in the longevity of Ina Forrest’s curling career. Success has another hand in keeping her competitive flame lit for this long.

The 63-year-old — turning 64 on May 25 — will once again lead Canada’s Paralympic curling squad at the Milan Cortina Games with sights on a return to the top of the podium.

Forrest has won four straight medals in her Paralympic career (two gold, two bronze) but hasn’t tasted gold since the 2014 Games.

The oldest member of Canada’s Paralympic contingent is regularly asked how long she plans to keep competing. Forrest was inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame at a banquet during Brier week in Ottawa in February 2016. In 2025, she was inducted into the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame.

However, the focus is on winning for the Spallumcheen, B.C., native.

“I think success always makes you more interested in carrying on, probably makes it a little bit easier,” Forrest said. “But I think overall it’s just the enjoyment of being with the people that I play with and enjoying the game still. And the game keeps expanding … And getting better, better and better competition as well. So you really have to work hard to be good.”

“Our goal is always to win gold,” added Forrest, who plays second on Canada’s team. “We are the only country that has been on the podium for every Paralympics that curling has been in. So it’s definitely a goal, that we do win a medal there.”

Skip Mark Ideson, of London, Ont., third/vice-skip Jon Thurston, of Dunsford, Ont., lead Collinda Joseph, from Ottawa, and fifth Gilbert Dash, of Kipling, Sask., make up the rest of the squad that will open competition on Saturday against Italy.

The 10-team field will compete for four playoff berths, with the traditional semifinal format of first versus fourth and second versus third determining the medal finalists.

Forrest, also a three-time world champion, got into curling at 42 years old — 21 years after she was paralyzed after being hit by a drunk driver. She said although she always envisioned herself in sport, para sport wasn’t where it is now in 1984.

“I got disqualified when I went to BC Summer Games and I was invited to play basketball but I was pregnant at that time so 20 years went by where really I didn’t do any sport at all,” she said.

After her family moved to Okanagan, B.C., in 2004, she said there was more of a push for disabled athletes. She was approached by a man at a store who asked her about wheelchair curling. Some free afternoons, with her youngest of three kids being in kindergarten, opened up a new world.

Forrest fell short of making the 2006 Paralympic team after losing the national final, which left her feeling like it was over considering her having three little ones, a home-based business and a husband who worked away from home. But her second-place nationals finish got her into an international bonspiel where she was named the top leader.

The fire has been lit ever since.

“It’s been 20 years and I still fit wheelchair curling into my life,” she said. “Without the support of family and friends, it would have been impossible, but it’s been an amazing journey for me and an experience I will remember for the rest of my life.”

Forrest isn’t the only experienced member yearning for gold. Ideson, who is entering his fourth Games, wasn’t on the ice for Canada’s last gold medal at his first Paralympics.

“Although I was part of the team, I feel like there’s a gold medal out there waiting for me,” he said. “You put the work in and just lost a couple of heartbreakers and lost the heartbreaking semifinal in 2018 against China because of the skip who’s one of the best in the world, made an amazing shot and they went on to win gold.

“China’s the best team in the world right now. They’re going to be really hard to beat so we’ll have to, you know, bring our best and you You know, there’s nothing like here in the national anthem and watching your flag go up, so I’m really excited to get the opportunity to have that happen again.”

Ideson suffered a spinal cord injury and quadriplegia in an helicopter accident while piloting in 2007. While in hospital, he was introduced to the documentary “Murder Ball” about wheelchair rugby.

Although he enjoyed the sport, he felt he wasn’t fast enough, or good enough to reach the national team level. Inspired by skeleton gold medallist John Montgomery’s story at the 2010 Olympics, he moved swiftly to find the sport for him.

“A friend of mine, a peer support volunteer, had been asking me to try curling so I gave it a try,” Ideson said. “I was reluctant if I’d be able to get the rock down the ice. And as soon as I learned that I could throw up the length of the ice then I was hooked.”

For Ideson, the hook now is skipping Canada to gold.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2026.

Abdulhamid Ibrahim, The Canadian Press