March 21, 2010 (Whistler, BC) – It was something they had never done before, but they made it a goal for these Games – three races, three gold medals. The final day of the Paralympic Games started with precipitation somewhere between snow and rain and then turned to rain. Sprinting the semi-finals on a one kilometre race course with a climb that was lengthy but not steep – with Stephen Harper apparently in the stands – saw Brian and Robin McKeever with their usual precision.

By the 500-metre mark they had caught the

other skiers who have a greater visual impairment and simply put the hammer down. By the time they reached the finish, they could ease up, crossing 5.4 seconds ahead of second place. This put Canada, Germany, Sweden and Russia into the final. There were no Americans entered.

While the McKeevers used

classic skis in the qualifier and semi, they decided to take their chances and switched to skate skis for the final, which meant they would have to double pole the whole course. “It was a harder race going up the hill without kick wax,” said Brian after the race, “It’s always a bit of a gamble. But it paid off for us today.

Brian was so fast that he actually dropped his brother just after the halfway mark. By that point he had caught the two racers who had started four seconds in advance of him because they had a slightly higher visual impairment, but still had to catch Zebastian Modin, the fifteen-year-old Swedish sensation who is the rising star in this sport. He is 100% blind and had a 29-second advance start on McKeever.

It didn’t take long. McKeever had such an advantage on the descents, he sailed by Modin and came into the stadium with a decisive lead. Robin was able to ski by the other athletes and almost caught his brother by the time he came across the line, arms up in victory in 3:42:9. Russian skier Nikolay Polukhin took silver, while Modin was the bronze medalist. Frank Holfe of Germany followed in fourth place.

“It was definitely a lot of fun today. It was a good, tough race,” said Brian. “We had a strategy and that was to conserve energy in the first round. We knew there was a high-speed downhill and flats. You can see it on the last downhill on the course. Some of the competitors at the Olympics helped us,” he said, referring to weighing the pros and cons of racing on classic or skate skis in the final. “It was always in the back of our minds.”

Brian said that it was not intentional to drop Robin, it was just that they got separated and picked different lanes. “I picked an older, harder, faster lane, and he stayed out of the race, trying not to interfere with the rest of the race.

Women’s Visually Impaired Sprint Final

If Brian McKeever dominated the men’s visually impaired competition, Verena Bentele of Germany dominated the women’s. Leading into today she had won two gold medals in biathlon and two in cross-country. Twelve years ago in Nagano she broke into the international scene with one bronze, two silvers and a gold, and has just kept going, collecting six golds and a bronze in Salt Lake and Torino. Today was no different. She flew through the qualifier and semis with the fastest time, and broke away to finish on her own in the final. Canada’s Robbi Weldon had an excellent fifth place finish while Courtney Knight was eighth and Margarita Gorbounova was ninth. There were no Americans in this race.

Men’s Sit Ski Sprint

This race saw more Russian domination with that country taking four of the top five places. Sergey Shilov sprinted to the gold on the 1km course, while teammates Irek Zaripov and Vladimir Kiselev took silver and bronze. Iuri Kostiuk of the Ukraine was the fourth place skier, with Russia’s Roman Petushkov, taking fifth place. American skiers Chris Klebl, Sean Halstead and Andy Soule were ninth, tenth and eleventh, but did not move on past the qualifications. Teammate Greg Mallory was 18th, while Canadians Lou Gibson and Sebastien Fortier were 29th and 32 in the thirty-five strong skier field.

Women’s Sit-Ski Sprint

Italian Francesca Porcellato broke the Eastern European dominance of so many Nordic events as she double poled to a great sprint finish. Right behind her was Olena Iurkovska of the Ukraine, with Belarus’ Liudmila Vauchok taking the bronze. She was sandwiched by another Ukrainian skier, Lyudmyla Pavlenko, who placed fourth. USA skier Monica Bascio was 8th, while Canadian Colette Bourgonje was 10th.

Women’s Standing Sprint Final

Once again it was the Eastern European athletes flying to the front as the Ukraine’s Oleksandra Kononova took gold. Japan’s Ota Shoko broke their stronghold by taking the silver, while Anna Burmistrova of Russia scooped bronze. Fourth place went to Belarus’ Larysa Varona.

Canada’s Jody Barber placed ninth while teammate Mary Benson was twelfth and American skier Kelly Underkofler was thirteenth in the field of eighteen skiers.

Full results here.