Skier McKeever records his 14th medal at the Paralympics
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — 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 cross-country skier opened the Pyeongchang Paralympics with a gold medal in the 20km 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 and 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.
The skier should add to his medal total in Pyeongchang, as the 20K was just his first of three events.