McKeever skis to record 14th medal at Paralympics

Medal No. 14 was both historic and incredibly hard.

When Brian McKeever looks back at the race that made him Canada’s most decorated winter Paralympian, he’ll remember it as one of his most difficult.

The visually impaired crosscountry skier opened the Pyeongchang Paralympics with a gold medal in the 20-kilometre event Monday, his 11th Paralympic gold medal and 14th overall.

In the moments after, the 38-year-old from Canmore, Alta., talked about the lung-busting final few kilometres.

“This one was hard. This one was really hard,” McKeever said. “I think we had a plan to ski comfortably into it and try to build towards the end, and I think I built too much in the middle.

“I almost undid it because the last lap was very hard to keep the pace, but good enough in the middle that we built a nice lead and then we were able to hang on. But it was touch and go there at the end.”

McKeever passed the late Lana Spreeman, an alpine skier who captured 13 Paralympic medals between 1980 and 1994.

McKeever, who carried Canada’s flag into Friday ’s opening ceremonies, crossed in a time of 46 minutes, 2.4 seconds accompanied by guides Graham Nishikawa and Russell Kennedy. The duo took turns guiding McKeever after each loop, a two-guide tactic the Canadian first implemented four years ago in Sochi.

“They did an awesome job today,” McKeever said of his guides. “It was super windy out there, so to be able to tuck in behind these big boys is important for me to get that rest a bit. They pushed hard, they skied really well, and they took care of me the whole way.”

The skier should add to his medal total in Pyeongchang, as the 20K was just his first of three events.