Canada’s Brian McKeever yesterday raced into the history books and grabbed his 16th Paralympic gold medal in cross-country skiing at the Beijing Winter Games.
McKeever won the middle-distance race and in doing so equalled the gold-medal haul of German alpine skier Gerd Schonfelder — the most decorated men’s Paralympian.
Norwegian cross-country skier Ragnhild Myklebust holds the record as the most successful Winter Paralympian overall with 22 golds and 27 total medals over five Games from 1988 to 2002.
Photo: AP
McKeever had already bagged two titles in the visually impaired sprint and long-distance events this week at Zhangjiakou.
The 42-year-old made his Paralympic debut at Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2002 and Beijing is to be his last Games.
He played down the fuss over reaching Schonfelder’s record.
Photo: AFP
“To be perfectly honest, it doesn’t mean a damn thing,” McKeever said, laughing. “If the records happen to come, great, but that was never the focus.”
He said he loves having adventures with his guides and is proud of being able to demonstrate the level that Paralympic athletes can reach.
“The hard work is done in the off-season, we enjoy it. We love it. We love getting lost in the mountains and sometimes dragging our butts home after 10 hours,” McKeever said.
McKeever has a chance to win a 17th medal in the relay event today.
Sweden’s Zebastian Modin, 27, placed second and Dmytro Suiarko won bronze.
Modin hailed McKeever’s achievement.
“He has meant so much for this sport,” he told reporters.
“He has been working at the front for 20 years and shown what para-athletes can do, and how fast para-athletes can ski,” Modin added.
Modin said it was his best race this season and he was looking forward to going home to rest.
“We have to calm down a bit,” he said.
In Yanqing, there were three Austrian sisters on the podium in the women’s visually impaired slalom alpine skiing event.
Veronika Aigner, 19, achieved a second Paralympic title in two days guided by her sister Elisabeth, 23.
Younger sister Barbara, 16, claimed silver.
Their brother, Johannes, 16, has also won four medals at the Games — including two golds.
The three competing siblings have the same congenital cataract condition as their mother.
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