Team heads laud spirit as ‘strength’ of Arctic Winter Games athletes

Organizers for Team Nunavik and Team Nunavut say the energy and spirit of the athletes were highlights of this year’s Arctic Winter Games.

The biannual sports competition that brings thousands of youth from across the circumpolar North was held from March 10 to March 16 in the Mat-Su Valley of Alaska. 

Contingents at this year’s games were Nunavik, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Yukon, northern Alberta, Greenland, the Sápmi region of Scandinavia and host team Alaska.  

Team Nunavik was represented by a contingent of 54 athletes and 6 cultural performers who “proudly demonstrated the region’s culture and values,” said Rocio Valencia, Team Nunavik’s spokesperson.

“We are now part of the Arctic Winter Games history as the team who won the silver ulu at the very first open female competition of stick pull – Dene games by Tina Mifsud from Kangiqsujuaq,” Valencia said.

Nunavik competed in badminton, table tennis, snowshoe, Arctic sports and Dene games. 

Overall, Team Nunavik won 27 medals: seven golds, nine silvers and seven bronzes, plus eight Fair Play pins, which are awards given out to players who demonstrate good sportsmanship. 

Athletes who won multiple individual medals include Dene Games athletes Samantha Rupert (two golds), Aiva Lingard (two silvers), Tina Mifsud (two silvers), Judith Alaku Naluiyuk (one silver, one bronze), and Arctic sports athlete Deseray Cumberbatch (one silver, one bronze). 

Of Nunavik’s eight gold medals, seven of them came from Dene games events. 

“The energy and the team’s spirit this year have been our main strength,” Valencia said, “and the cultural contingent gave an amazing performance at the gala including an incredible circus performance and throat singing.”

Nunavut went home with 66 medals in 14 different sports, including a bronze medal in under-18 male hockey. The team initially stated on March 15 it had declined this award due to “inappropriate actions” by individual members of the team. 

The team did, in fact, accept bronze but didn’t participate in the medal ceremony, said Cyrone Cabatu, spokesperson for the Department of Community and Government Services, Monday in an email.

Athletes who won multiple individual medals include Arctic sports athlete and closing ceremonies flag-bearer Danica Taylor (three golds, one silver, one bronze), short-track speedskaters Akutaq Williamson Bathory (three golds) and Miles Brewster (one silver, three bronzes), wrestlers Craig Aulatjut (two gold), Julian Gissing (one gold, one silver), Samson Emiktowt (one gold, one bronze), Jusipi Dimitruk (two silvers) and LisaAnn Nuvaqiq (two bronzes), and badminton player Iris Sowdluapik (two silvers).  

Nunavut also debuted its first-ever cross-country ski team and featured a figure skating duo, the smallest team in the contingent.

Mission head Mariele dePeuter said a highlight of the Games was the support the team had from people across Canada from when the team was selected to obtaining passports to the final preparations. 

“Our futsal teams making it to the finals and having one of the best performances in Nunavut history was a highlight, the Dene games performances on the field of play, speed skating’s personal bests and medal haul, and overall, in each sport that our athletes did not give up,” she said in an email to Nunatsiaq News.

“Each Games comes with their own set of challenges – both internally and externally. I am proud of each team member who overcame any challenges,” dePeuter said.

The next Games, scheduled for 2026, will take place in Whitehorse.