P.E.I.'s Mark Arendz reflects on world championship success

P.E.I.'s Mark Arendz walked away from this year's World Para Nordic Skiing Championships in Finsterau, Germany, with a handful of medals, including two gold.

'Rest, recover, repeat'

With six races in nine days, the native of Hartsville noted the event went by quickly.

"I only had a couple of days off in between. For me it was just, get ready for the next race. Rest, recover and repeat," he said.

Besides the gold medals, Arendz, 26, also won a silver and two bronze medals at the games, which wrapped up on Sunday.

Arendz won gold in the 7.5-km and 12.5-km standing men's biathlon races. He also won silver in the men's 15-km individual biathlon, bronze in the men's 10-km standing cross-country ski race and was part of the cross-country ski relay team that won bronze.

Arendz said it isn't the norm for him to participate in as many events as he did at the games.

"Right now, I have the ability to be strong in most of the events. So, we tried it this time [and] we'll see what happens in a year's time to see what events we do then."

Looking ahead

Arendz, a two-time Paralympic medallist, is already looking ahead to the 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. He said he's planning to travel to Pyeongchang in about 10 days for a test event.

"And then, it seems like it gets a little real. It's on," he said.

"We'll only have 12 months before the games start and the last little bit of training and preparation will go into those last 12 months."

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