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.
Inter on Sunday were given a letoff when they snatched a late 1-1 derby draw with AC Milan, while league leaders SSC Napoli were held by a late goal at AS Roma. Reigning champions Inter remain three points behind Napoli, who looked to be heading five clear as they led in Rome until Angelino volleyed in a stunning leveler in the first minute of stoppage-time. Angelino’s strike gave even more significance to Stefan de Vrij’s last-gasp equalizer at the San Siro. The defender forced home Nicola Zalewski’s knockdown just as it looked like Tijjani Reijnders’ opener would be enough for Milan. “I can
The Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets on Saturday did not disappoint in a thrilling midseason matchup in front of a fired-up sellout crowd of more than 18,500 fans. The top two teams in the NHL delivered with a combined nine goals, including the 877th of Alex Ovechkin’s career to put him 18 back of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record. That tied the score, the Jets pulled it out in overtime and just about everyone involved got their money’s worth out of the 5-4 game. “We knew how we were both sitting in the standings and both having real good years,” Winnipeg coach Scott
BACK-TO-BACK: The League One club, which is owned by stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, is sparing no expense to clinch promotion to the Championship Hollywood endings are pricey, even in England’s third division. In pursuit of their third straight promotion, Wrexham AFC splashed some cash at League One rival Reading to secure the services of striker Sam Smith. The Welsh club owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney confirmed the signing of the 26-year-old Smith on Friday. He is one of the top scorers in the third division. The transfer fee was not disclosed, but British media widely reported it to be about ￡2 million (US$2.48 million) — not extravagant, but a hefty price at this level and it would be about the same figure that
Less than a week after splashing out a world-record fee for Naomi Girma, Chelsea has spent big again to bring England midfielder Keira Walsh back to the English Women’s Super League. Walsh left European champions Barcelona after more than two years to join Chelsea for a reported ￡400,000 (US$496,000) on Friday. Walsh was the world’s most expensive player for two years after moving to Barcelona from Manchester City for a reported ￡400,000 in 2022. That status now belongs to Girma, the US defender who cost Chelsea a reported ￡900,000 to sign from the San Diego Wave. Still, it means 27-year-old Walsh — a technically
RSS