The Paralympics open one year from Thursday. Here is a look at five Canadian athletes to watch at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games:
MARK ARENDZ
Winner of five medals, including two gold, in February's para-nordic world championships, the 27-year-old skier from Charlottetown is a medal threat in both biathlon and cross-country. Arendz, whose left arm was amputated above the elbow in a childhood farming accident, won biathlon silver and bronze in 2014.
LIAM HICKEY
Hickey is a two-sport athlete from St. John's N.L., who played wheelchair basketball for Canada in last year's Summer Paralympics in Rio. Born missing a bone in his leg, the 19-year-old is tracking to wear the Maple Leaf in sledge hockey at the Winter Games with six goals and eight assists in his first 15 games on the national team.
MAC MARCOUX
The alpine skier won giant slalom Paralympic gold in 2014 at just 16 years old. Now 19, the visually impaired athlete from Haviland Bay, Ont., dominated January's world championship with gold in downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom.
BRIAN McKEEVER
Canada's most decorated Winter Paralympic athlete with 10 gold, the 37-year-old visually impaired nordic skier from Canmore, Alta., will compete in his fifth Games in 2018.
ALANA RAMSAY
The Para-alpine skier with cerebral palsy won four medals — one silver, three bronze — in this year's world championships. The 22-year-old Calgarian can draw on her experience in the 2014 Paralympics where she finished in the top 10.
Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press