McKeever golden in return to IPC championship

In a triumphant return to the world cup circuit, Canmore’s Brian McKeever won back-to-back gold medals at the International Paralympic Committee World Championships in Khanty Mansisyk, Russia on Sunday, April 3.

Skiing for the first time with new guide Erik Carleton, McKeever followed up a win in the 10 kilometre visually-impaired race with a gold medal in the 20 km race.

Battling against five centimetres of new snow filling the track, McKeever and Carleton came from behind and crossed the line in 53:26.7, well ahead of the Russian duo of Nikolay Polukhin and Andrey Tokarev, who finished in 54:10.0.

“That was a hard race today (Sunday). We were behind after the second lap, but I wasn’t too worried because I felt like I still had something left in the tank and our skis were running well,” said McKeever.

“The wax techs did a great job on the skis keeping us in the hunt for the medals today. Erik skied really strong, keeping me out of the winds for as long as possible, which allowed me to have energy for the final two laps.”

Carleton, McKeever’s long-time friend, took over guiding duties from Brian’s brother Robin McKeever, who suffered an MCL injury in December of 2010. The injury put Brian’s season in jeopardy, however, Carleton came to his aid.

Carleton and the younger McKeever first skied together as Jackrabbits in Calgary. At age 13 the duo began racing competitively, eventually becoming roommates in Canmore while qualifying for the national development team.

In 1998, McKeever was diagnosed with Stargaard’s disease, which resulted in a loss of his central vision. He switched onto the IPC circuit and won three gold medals in 2010. The 31-year-old was named to the 2010 Canadian Olympic team, but did not race.

While McKeever had raced in several loppets this year, and placed a respectable seventh at the Canadian Ski Nationals in the men’s 50 km race, he was uncertain how he’d stack up this year against the IPC world cup racers.

“Having not raced on the IPC circuit this year there was some stress and uncertainty coming into this competition. That is now gone and we can focus on skiing hard and enjoying the rest of the events,” McKeever said.

“We had a good plan to ski controlled and see where the competition was in relation to us,” said Carleton after his first race. “We stuck to the plan and it worked out.”

Another Canmore resident finished fourth in the 10 km race. Chris Klebl finished with a time of 24:57. Born in Austria and a former athlete for Team USA, he left the program to ski for Canada this year.

The American was left paralyzed from the waist down after a snowboarding accident during a cliff jump in 1995. Ten years later, he was competing as a cross-country skier and won gold medals in the Paralympic Games in Torino, Italy in the 10 km and 15 km distances.

Mark Arendz also clocked a top 10 result. The Prince Edward Island native, who lives in Canmore, finished 10th in the 20 km men’s classic ski standing race on Sunday.