Canada’s Brian McKeever wins historic 16th Paralympic gold medal

BEIJING – Brian McKeever of Canmore, Alta., along with guide Graham Nishikawa, has won gold in the men’s para cross-country middle distance vision impaired race at the 2022 Winter Paralympics.

The victory was McKeever’s 16th gold medal and tied him with Gerd Schoenfelder of Germany for the most titles by a male winter Paralympian.

McKeever beat out Sweden’s Zebastian Modin and Ukraine’s Dmytro Suiarko in a time of 33 minutes, 6.6 seconds to win his historic gold.

The 42-year-old has won 20 Paralympic medals over the course of his career.

Additionally, Natalie Wilkie of Salmon Arm, B.C., won her third medal at the Beijing Games, capturing a silver in the women’s para cross-country middle-distance standing event.

Wilkie, 21, was sandwiched between Ukrainian athletes Oleksandra Kononova and Iryna Bui.

Wilkie previously won golds in the women’s standing sprint and long-distance para cross-country races.

This was her sixth career Paralympic medal.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 11, 2022.