Multiple Paralympic medallist Brian McKeever appears to have something in common with Premier Alison Redford: both plan to stick around for four more years.
“I’d like to ski in South Korea in 2018. I enjoy the sport so much and I’d love to watch the young guys progress for four more years. Whether the body will last, I don’t know, but we’ll see. At 34, I’m hopeful it will,” McKeever said. “It’s not just about the racing. It’s about being part of a team.”
With 13 medals to his credit, ParaNordic legend McKeever has shown no signs of slowing down, other than the odd nagging ache and pain. He and guides Erik Carleton and Graham Nishikawa crushed the competition in the 20 kilometre visually-impaired classic at the Sochi Paralympics, shocked the nation when he fell but still won the one-km skate sprint and conquered the world with a tight win in the 10-km visually-impaired skate race, leading team Canada to a third-place overall finish in the medal standings.
“Everyone had the success we wanted. All in all, it was a really great experience,” McKeever said. “Going in sick, it knocks you down a notch. It all worked out in the end.”
He completed the golden hat trick in the 10-km freestyle battling strong winds and fatigue, again relying on Nishikawa and Carleton to split the guiding duties.
“We were up against tough conditions. It’s a hard thing to sit in front the entire time, but Erik and Graham were great and that got us the wins. I wasn’t able to do it on my own, and they allowed me to sit in behind. It was definitely a big team effort,” McKeever said.
Carleton took the first half of the race and Nishikawa the second, allowing the team to win the race with a time of 23:18.1, eight seconds ahead of Russian competitors.
As strong as McKeever and his crew were, he deferred all credit to the team support crew and teammates, praising fast skis, excellent physio support and coaching. He praised Mark Arendz for setting the tone early for Team Canada with his first silver medal, and sit-skier Chris Klebl for grabbing gold in the final sit-ski race of the games (see story page 38).
“Mark started it all with his silver medal. It was exciting to see the young skiers set the tone and we carried the momentum to the end when Chris won on the last day … that was my favourite moment of the games,” McKeever said.
While Arendz and McKeever flew home on Monday to get some rest, Nishikawa and Carleton stopped in Cornerbrook, Nfld. to compete at Canadian Ski Nationals.
After the season he’s had, McKeever has earned some rest. He put in an intense training season before the IPC World Cup in Canmore, followed by an emotional Olympic trials race, where he came extremely close to earning a spot on the 2014 Olympic team. He then refocused and pushed hard through four races at the Paralympics, and had high media demands as North America stepped up its coverage in Sochi.
“In the wax room on the last day, I realized there was nothing left in the tank,” McKeever said.
But once he was back in Canmore, the prospect of sticking with the sport until 2018 proved too alluring. Coached by his brother, training in exotic locations around the world with his best friends and dominating the ParaNordic circuit, he has little reason to simply rest on his laurels. He’ll take April off and hit the slopes again.
“I’ll stick around here and hit the ski hills, which I hear are pretty good right now,” McKeever said. “It will be good to take a chairlift up those hills after having to work up them all season long.”
