Despite some issues with communication and staying "in sync" on the course, Canada's Brian McKeever made it two for two in cross-country ski races at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games on Thursday (March 18) in convincing fashion.
McKeever, the visually impaired skier who captured Paralympic gold in the men's 20-kilometre freestyle race on Monday (March 15), followed his guide and brother Robin around the men's 10 km classic course on Thursday for 26 minutes, 1.6 seconds to capture his second gold of the Games, the sixth of his career.
While McKeever's margin of victory 40 seconds was convincing in the longer race, this one seemed like more of a statement. He won by one minute, 38.6 seconds over silver medalist Helge Flo of Norway, 1:41.1 ahead of bronze medalist Nikolai Polukhin of Russia.
While the outcome was never really in doubt after the first split time, though, the McKeever brothers said they had some problems with communication, both between the two of them and with their coaches.
"It wasn't a perfect race today," said Robin, a former national team skier and Olympian who has guided his brother at three Paralympic Games. "We had some stress just trying to stay in sync, plus where we started, we couldn't get the information on where the other competitors were."
Brian McKeever, who started in the middle of the 16-competitor field, said part of the problem was that they were so far ahead when their split times came in that it was difficult to know where the other competitors were.
"We had an idea where we were, but you never really know," he said.
Another problem, if you can call it that, is that Brian is stronger at classic-technique skiing, whereas Robin is better at skating (freestyle), which can make staying together in course a bit challenging.
But the result shows that they managed it reasonably well, Brian said.
"Classic may be my event, but 10 km is definitely not," he said. "I was just trying to hold pace and listening for the split times of the other competitors and reacting to that."
Added Robin McKeever, "If we have perfect race I think we can put another 30 seconds (faster) on what we did today."
McKeever, who placed sixth in the biathlon competition on the first day of the Games last Saturday (March 13), chose to skip the biathlon that took place on Wednesday (March 17) to focus on his best events.
Brian McKeever drew a laugh from the assembled media when he took a good-natured dig at the sport of biathlon,
"Biathlon is kind of an iffy sport anyway," he said. "You miss a few shots in the range and you're out of it."
