Brian McKeever of Calgary, Alberta has won his 14th gold medal at the Paralympic Winter Games. On Sunday evening (Monday morning in Beijing), McKeever won the men’s visually impaired 20 kilometre cross country skiing race in dominant fashion.
At age 42, McKeever posted a winning gold medal time of 46 minutes, 2.4 seconds. He beat his nearest competitor, Yury Holub of Belarus by 5.1 seconds. Holub had a silver medal winning time of 47:07.5. Thomas Clarion of France won the bronze medal with a time of 47:24.4. McKeever won a medal by one minute, 26.5 seconds, as Zebastian Modin of Sweden was in fourth place with a time of 47:28.9.
In women’s 7.5 kilometre classical standing cross country skiing, two Canadians landed on the podium. Natalie Wilkie of Salmon Arm, British Columbia, who lost four fingers in a word working class while in grade nine, won the gold medal with a time of 48 minutes, 4.8 seconds. Brittany Hudak of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, who was born with one arm, won the bronze medal with a time of 49:27.8. Sydney Peterson of the United States won silver with a time of 49 minutes, 0.2 seconds. Wilkie earned a medal by one minute and 55 seconds over Zhiqing Zao of China, who had a fourth place time of 49:59.8. Hudak won a medal by 32 seconds.
In snowboarding, Canada won its first two medals ever at the Paralympic Winter Games. In the men’s snowboard cross event for athletes with minimal movement in lower limbs, Tyler Turner of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan won the gold medal, and in the women’s snowboard cross event for athletes with less activity limitation, Lisa DeJong of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan won the silver medal. Turner has both legs amputated from a skydiving accident in 2017. DeJong, meanwhile had her lower leg amputated at three years old. In the men’s snowboard cross for athletes with minimal movement in lower limbs, Mike Schultz of the United States won the silver medal and Zhongwei Wu of China won the bronze medal. In the women’s snowboard cross for athletes with less limitation, Cecile Hernandez of France won the gold medal and Brenna Huckaby of the United States won the bronze medal.
In women’s combined standing alpine skiing, Alana Ramsay of Calgary won the bronze medal. Ramsay, who suffers from cerebral palsy, posted a time of 2:06.33. Ebba Arsjo of Sweden won the gold medal with a time of 1:56.51. Menqiu Zhang of China won the silver medal with a time of 1:58.02. Ramsay earned a medal by 1.67 seconds over Anna-Maria Rieder of Germany, who had a fourth place time of 2:08.00
Canada is in second place in the Paralympic medal standings with 12 medals (four gold medals, two silver medals, and six bronze medals). The only nation that has more medals is China with 25 medals.
