Christina Picton to compete in upcoming Paralympic Games
To call her a quick study is an understatement.
Fonthill’s Christina Picton was on skis for the first time in December of 2018, and only weeks later, she competed in her first cross-country ski race. Next Friday she will be leaving for Beijing to represent Canada in the Paralympic Games. From March 5 to 13, she will compete in a half-dozen Paralympic Nordic events, including biathlons, cross-country sprints and long-distance races, and team relays.
“It's really exciting, and I just can't believe how fast it's coming,” the 28-year-old Picton told the Voice in a telephone conversation from the national Nordic training centre in Canmore, Alberta last week.
Born with a congenital deficiency that affected both her legs and ultimately led to her having her right leg amputated, Picton competed in Paralympic ice hockey (also called sledge hockey or sled hockey) for 17 years, but when exposed to skiing, a new challenge, she decided to make the switch. She walks with the aid of prostheses.
Enrolled in wheelchair baseball at age 10 by her parents, Picton struggled with the sport, and decided to make the move to the ice.
“I started playing sledge hockey when I was 11. There’s a Niagara-based team and a whole Ontario league, plus the provincial and national teams. I coached a program called Learn to Sledge in Port Colborne in 2018, and one of the participants was a former skier. She told me I should give para-Nordic skiing a try. When I got out on snow for the first time, it was just such a freeing experience to be out in nature.”
Picton tried to balance both sledge hockey and skiing for a while, “but when I decided to move to Canmore, Alberta in January of 2021, the training level just went through the roof. I'm not shutting the door on hockey by any means, but right now, I have a lot to left to learn and accomplish with skiing. So that is my main focus.”
Her talents as a sledge hockey player were such that she was invited to try out for the national men’s team.
“I was really honoured to get that invitation. They had never invited a woman to their trials before,” said Picton. “It was just a really great experience. I learned a lot, and it made me appreciate what an elite level national team program is like. I think that you kind of get hooked on that atmosphere. All of the team members and staff are so professional.”
I think that you kind of get hooked on that atmosphere. All of the team members and staff are so professional.
She grew up in in in Pelham and attended E .L. Crossley, then on to Niagara College where she studied graphic design. Picton worked in publishing and printing, and now runs her own freelance graphic arts company.
In Para Nordic World Cup competition in 2020 and 2021, held in Canada, Germany, and Finland, Picton finished fourth or fifth in various Nordic events to solidify her spot on the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games team.
Biathalon combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Athletes ski through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. Targets are 30 feet away from the firing line, and the competition air rifles have iron sights, not scopes.
“The targets are metal medallions about the size of a dime,” said Picton. “You need to focus on your breathing to lower your heart rate, and take just one accurate shot at a time. But because you are timed on the course, you need to get back on your skis as soon as possible.”
Picton said she definitely intends to come home to Pelham for a visit after the games, but plans to stay, work, and train in Canmore for at least the next four years. Her dad, mom, and sister still live in Niagara.
Her father, Joe Picton, a retired Niagara Regional Police Service officer, told the Voice that there was really no potential for the women's team to be going to the Paralympics in the near future, because there are just not enough nations currently competing in the sport. He is justifiably proud of Christina.
“She’s no doubt one of the top three female sled hockey players in the world, and was the last player cut from the men’s team at the final selection camp,” said Joe. “Canada has a very strong Nordic skiing team, and that was evidenced during the recent World Cup events in Canmore. Christina has always wanted to get to the Paralympics. In the early years, she thought it would be hockey to get her there, but she made the decision to transition to a different sport.”
Nordic skiing is a long game, said Christina.
“Many Olympic athletes in the sport are still competing at an elite level well into their thirties. I think that a lot of my skills and my fitness transferred from hockey, but to really grow my aerobic capacity and become a long-distance athlete, I’ll need to put in another four years. I’m already working towards the Paralympics in Italy in 2026. This is my first experience at the Paralympics, and I'm going to make the most of it.”
