Canadians McKeever, Nishikawa ski to world para-nordic gold

Canadian para-nordic cross-country skier Brian McKeever continues to grow his legend.

McKeever, a 13-time Paralympic medallist, along with his guide Graham Nishikawa, claimed gold in the men's 20-kilometre visually impaired classic cross-country ski race Thursday at the para-nordic world championships in Finsterau, Germany.

McKeever, of Canmore, Alta., and Nishikawa, of Whitehorse, skied wire-to-wire for the victory in a time of 57 minutes 35.40 seconds.

Sweden's Zebastian Modin and his guide J Andersson finished second in 1:00:24.60, while Norway's Arvid Nelson and Eirik Bye captured the bronze medal with a time of 1:00:58.80.

With warm weather conditions sending wax technicians into a frenzy prior to the start of the race, the Canadian duo took advantage of a last-minute decision in ski selection to set up their charge to a golden win.

 "It was a really good day all around. In warm up it started icy, then was wet, and conditions were changing quickly. It was an uncertain feeling, but the guys really had to adjust on the fly and did an awesome job," said McKeever. "Today we had good skis, good guiding and a overall I felt great all day."

Racing predominantly in longer distance able-bodied events this year, the 37-year-old McKeever added Nishikawa to his team in 2014 where he captured three gold medals at the Sochi Games, bringing his career total to 10 Paralympic titles.

"Graham skied really, really well today. In fact he put me in an uncomfortable place for a large portion of the race, and I may have done the same for him in spots," said McKeever.

"There are different sections where we felt really good, and then others poorly. You are just comfortable with certain terrain, but it was really, really hot today and that just makes it tough to be relaxed when it is like that. It is a constant mental battle."