Canada’s Brian McKeever raged into the history books and won his 16th Paralympic gold medal in cross-country skiing at the Beijing Winter Games on Saturday. McKeever won the middle-distance race, and in doing so equaled the gold-medal of German former para alpine skier Gerd Schönfelder – the most decorated men’s Paralympian. The 42-year-old had already won two titles in the blind sprint and long distance events in Zhangjiakou this week. McKeever made his Paralympic debut in 2002 in Salt Lake City, and Beijing would be his last.
Before the race, McKeever had played down the fuss about potentially reaching Schönfelder’s record.
“I won’t continue to think about them and just go to one race at a time and try to enjoy it,” he said earlier this week.
Norwegian cross-country skier Ragenhild Myklebst holds the record as the most successful Winter Paralympian overall – 22 golds and 27 overall medals in five sports from 1988 to 2002.
China’s wheelchair curling team, the defending champions, will face Sweden on Saturday afternoon.
The team had a disappointing start to their competition, accusing the pressure of performing in front of home spectators and losing their first two matches on nerves.
But he bounced back and managed to deny Canada a place in the gold medal match in the semi-finals on Friday.
Head coach Yu Qingshuang has started singing folk songs for his team before playing.
“I wanted the team to be able to relax and create some kind of atmosphere before the game, and help them do their best,” she said.
Canada beat Slovakia 8-3 in the bronze medal match on Friday.
Canadians have not missed a medal since the 2006 Turin Games, and they also claimed bronze in Pyeongchang.
“Just to bring some hardware home, it’s very special,” said Mark Ideson.
“The heart is just pounding… just breathless,” said teammate Ina Forrest.
There are three chances to win gold medals in the sitting, standing and visually impaired categories in the women’s alpine skiing slalom in Yanqing on Saturday.
China will take on South Korea in the bronze medal match in Para Ice Hockey and Canada will take on the US on Sunday.
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