AWG 2026: Team NT wins futsal gold to cap off Games

Team NT’s U16 female futsal players produced two scintillating goals to win gold in the very last event of the 2026 Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse.

After first-half goals from Liliana Marrai and Ayanna Darku, opponents Alaska pulled one back to set up a dramatic finale.

An extraordinary save by Georgia Debogorski, plunging to her left, denied the Alaskans an equalizer in the dying seconds.

“When I made that save, the crowd went crazy and it felt really good for me,” said Debogorski as the Canada Games Centre, packed with NWT athletes and supporters, erupted following the final whistle.

“It was really crazy. It didn’t feel real at first. I was just so excited when I scored,” said Marrai.

The 2-1 victory marked the 41st gold ulu of the Games for Team NT, with some results still being tabulated from other events.

On Friday, the NWT won an outstanding come-from-behind archery gold ulu courtesy of Greta Kohle, who shot a near-perfect 29/30 in one end en route to defeating Yukon’s Mya Wilson. Team NT’s Em Gilmour took bronze.

“I wasn’t expecting to beat Mya once, let alone twice,” said Kohle, who beat the same opponent in the earlier stages of the double-elimination tournament. “My goal was bronze or silver, so I’m really excited.”

In Arctic Sports, both Chris Stipdonk and Veronica McDonald added to their tallies, McDonald winning the kneel jump to add to her arm pull title.

Knuckle hop champion Stipdonk won the airplane contest and set his second world record of the week in the process. “It’s fantastic. It’s been a dream come true,” he said of his experience at Whitehorse 2026.

Stipdonk and his daughter, Lindsey, have each set multiple world records in the past five days – Lindsey doing so in speed skating, where she won 1,500m gold on Friday, as did Yuma McEachern, Brigid Murphy and Peter Mahon in another Team NT sweep. Russel MacKay and Seiya McEachern took silver.

Speed skating’s relays concluded action at the Canada Games Centre’s arena on Friday, where Team NT won U15 male and U19 female gold alongside U15 female silver.

Team NT’s wrestlers won five ulus in Inuit wrestling on Friday, including gold for Jade Omingmak and Emma Pedersen. Corbin Alonak and Tessa Nendsa won silver with Kyle Thibault taking bronze.

Last thing on Friday night, Team NT’s Atticus Willkomm won mixed curling gold alongside an Alberta North team-mate.

Both NWT basketball teams finished with silver, as did the U18 male futsal team and the table tennis U15 mixed doubles pairing, while the table tennis U15 mixed team finished with bronze. Biathlon added three relay bronze medals – one in ski, two in snowshoe – and three of the NWT’s sprint teams took bronze in cross-country skiing. The U18 female futsal team defeated Nunavut 1-0 for bronze.

Underwood Day and James Williams took Arctic Sports bronze in one foot high kick and the all-around standings respectively.

With some results still provisional and yet to be included in the totals, the medal standings on Saturday place Team NT third in terms of gold ulus and fourth in terms of overall ulus won.

The NWT’s performance in Whitehorse is a significant upgrade on the Mat-Su Games of 2024, where the territory won 26 titles.

The next Arctic Winter Games are scheduled for 2029 as the Games move to a three-year cycle. A host jurisdiction for the next edition has yet to be announced.

Team NT’s athletes fly home to the territory on three flights, two departing Saturday night and one on Sunday morning, following a closing ceremony that will more take the form of a gathering and market in downtown Whitehorse.

The author of this article is also serving as a volunteer member of Team NT’s mission staff at the Games.