If you hear the sound of medals clacking against one another, it’s not your imagination, it’s just the Bow Valley’s Paralympians returning home with trucks full of gold, silver and bronze in tow.
After the Paralympic Games wrapped up Sunday (March 13) in Beijing, China, a haul of 14 medals are returning to the region, including six gold.
The athletes who live and train in the valley demonstrated that when it comes to sport, there are few other regions like here anywhere else in Canada.
Among those athletes is Brian McKeever. The Canmore local all but established himself as one of the country’s greatest winter athletes when he claimed his 16th gold medal in another dominating display at the highest level.
Before the Games, he announced it would be his sixth and final time competing on the highest international stage. McKeever went out in style, ending as a global legend with 20 medals.
While the Games will be the final ones for McKeever, another athlete who trains in the valley – Natalie Wilkie – showed she is more than ready to take up the mantle in the sport. The 21-year-old added two gold and a silver to go with the gold, silver and bronze she won in 2018.
Other athletes who live in train in the valley – such as Collin Cameron, Brittany Hudak, Mark Arendz and Christina Picton – also showed that the region will continue to have the spotlight on it. They combined for another seven and Cameron, Arendz and Wilkie also earned bronze together in the cross-country skiing mixed 4x2.5-kilometre relay.
On the Olympic side (Feb. 4-20), while the medals didn’t come, the number of athletes showcased a talented core.
Speedskater and Canmore local Connor Howe made his first of what will be more Games to come. The Read family cemented its generational talent, while John Morris, a two-time gold medalist, and Justin Snith, who won silver in 2018, possibly wrapping up successful Olympic careers.
Russell Kennedy, who fell just short of a bid for the Olympics, was the guide for McKeever on two of his gold medals.
The valley has long been the heart of many athletic teams, with Biathlon Canada and Nordiq Canada national teams calling Canmore home.
Between the Olympics and Paralympics, about two dozen athletes who live and train here went to China to compete.
On the home front, the good news kept rolling in droves.
The Friday (March 11) announcement for funding for the Canmore Nordic Centre will ensure the facility will remain a hub for some of the top athletes, not only in Canada, but across the globe.
The repairs, while long overdue and the undertaking of significant advocacy work for nearly the last decade, will likely see some temporary delays in what can and can’t be used compared to previous years. However, by the time International Biathlon Union World Cup and International Ski Federation Ski World Cup come to Canmore in 2024, the facility will be among the top in the world.
For the last 30 years, the valley has been able to call itself a central location for the top athletes in Canada.
After the competitions and announcements in the past six weeks, the valley has set the stage for at least the next 30 years.
