Ten-time Paralympic medallist Brian McKeever and guide Erik Carleton haven’t ruled out an assault on the 2018 ParaNordic Games.
Speaking to the Outlook at the 2014 Olympic celebration parade, Saturday (May 24), McKeever said he and Carleton want to ski in South Korea in 2018.
“We hope so. We want to continue on what we’ve built. We have Mark Arendz coming up and he still needs a couple of old guys to whip his butt. It won’t be long until he’s the leader of the team,” McKeever said.
The ParaNordic team met with Own the Podium last week to discuss the program’s future and McKeever indicated he’d ski as long as he’s healthy.
“I’ll stick around as long as the body holds up. I’m definitely starting to feel the effects of smashing poles into pavement, but we’re having fun. After a successful year, it’s easy to pick up and keep going.”
Both have lived and trained in Canmore for 13 years and McKeever received the loudest applause from the hundreds of parade watchers. Eighteen of the Bow Valley’s 26 Olympians attended the parade, as they were greeted by dignitaries, serenaded by teenage songstress Emily Pomeroy and awarded personalized paintings by Timothy Hoey.
The Canadian national cross-country ski team has resumed training in the Bow Valley, splitting its team into four for the approaching season.
Alex Harvey, Devon Kershaw, Ivan Babikov and Len Valjas make up the world cup team, as all are slated to begin the season on the world cup.
A development B team, consisting of athletes who have earned top 30 results on the world cup in the past two years, has also been created, and consists of Graeme Killick, Perianne Jones and Jesse Cockney. Those athletes will either begin the season on the world cup or a European Cup race circuit for developing athletes.
Also new this year is a U23 team consisting of Raphael Couturier, Cendrine Browne and Canmore’s Dahria Beatty.
Other athletes who have made national team criteria at some point over the past two years have been placed on the senior development team. Those athletes include Michael Somppi, Emily Nishikawa, Alysson Marshall, Heidi Widmer and Kevin Sandau.
Head coach Justin Wadsworth said the athletes will be placed in races which best suit their abilities and will aid in their development. Athletes who perform well in lower level European races will get a shot at the world cup, he said.
