March 15, 2014 (Sochi, Russia) – Brian McKeever and Chris Klebl formed a one-two Canadian punch to finish fourth in the open 4×2.5km  relay on Saturday at the first-ever relays at the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi.

Sit-skier Roman Petushkov won a remarkable sixth gold medal as he and teammates Vladislay Lekomtcev, Grigory Murygin and Rushan Minnegulov combined to beat Ukraine by 55.1 seconds, finishing the course in 24:22.8. Ukraine’s team (25:17.9) consisted of Olena Iurkovska, Ihor Reptyukh, Iurii Utkin and Vitaliy Lukyanenko.

McKeever and Klebl are two Canmore, Alta. residents who teamed up to ski two legs each in the unique event, which requires each team to have a minimum of two (men or women) skiers and maximum of four.

Chris Klebl © Matthew Murnaghan/Canadian Paralympic Committee

“It is a unique format and unpredictable because you are skiing against many people for the first time and in all classifications, but we gave it a good shot today and should be happy,” said McKeever. “Chris was strong and I also felt good, but we just ran out of a gas a bit at the end and came up a bit short of the podium.”

McKeever continued to leverage both guides here with him in Sochi. The 12-time Paralympic medallist skied the opening leg with Erik Carleton, of Canmore, Alta., and the anchor leg with Graham Nishikawa, of Whitehorse.

“The job isn’t over yet,” said Carleton. “We had a good day today, but we have one more race tomorrow and we will now be sure to get ready for it.”

“My congratulations to all the Russian teams and fans. This gold medal is for them,” Petushkov said. “I’m so calm about medals because sport is my profession.”

France’s two-man team of Benjamin Daviet and Thomas Clarion held off the charging Canucks to win the bronze medal with a time of 25:30.3, their country’s first Paralympic relay medal since the Nagano 1998 Games, where they also won bronze.

Nishikawa guides McKeever © Matthew Murnaghan/Canadian Paralympic Committee

The USA’s open relay squad finished 9th with a time of 29:58.3 and was made up of Omar Bermejo (Grand Rapids, Mich.), visually impaired skier and Navy veteran Kevin Burton (Boulder, Colo.), and sit-skiers Augusto Perez (East Syracuse, N.Y.) and Army veteran Bryan Price (Leeton, Mo.).

In the mixed relay, just when it seemed Russia might not even finish on the podium, Nikolay Polukhin stormed home in the final leg of the race to complete the course in 27:35.6 and snag the gold for the host nation with teammates Alena Kaufman, Elena Remizova and Svetlana Konovalova.

The Russians were in eighth place after the second leg but gradually moved forward in the race and surpassed Sweden and Norway in the final leg to top the podium.

“We have most responsibility in the relay because we race for the whole team and country,” Polukhin said. “At the start, we must not go too fast, as we could get tired in the middle of the race. We must also not go too slowly, as we could lose time.

“But our coaches had a good plan and it worked.”

Sweden (27:44.3), with 19-year-old Zebastian Modin and 42-year-old Helen Ripa each skiing two legs of the race, finished second to take the silver.

Norway (27:53.6) won their second medal of the Sochi 2014 Paralympics, taking bronze in the mixed relay with the team of Mariann Marthinsen, Nils-Erik Ulset and Eirik Bye.

Tatyana McFadden © Buzz Covington Photography

The American mixed relay team, which can include two, three or four competitors but must include at least one woman, was made up of just two competitors. Sit skier and 2014 Winter Paralympic silver medalist Tatyana McFadden (Clarksville, Md.) skied the first and third legs of the relay while visually impaired skier Jake Adicoff (Sun Valley, Idaho), who was joined by his guide Reid Pletcher (Ketchum, Idaho) skied the second and fourth legs.

Adicoff and McFadden finished 6th in a time of 29:06.7. “I personally love the team aspect, because you try just that much harder for the team,” said Pletcher.  “It’s not just about you; it’s about doing anything you can and giving your last bit of energy for the team.”

Jake Adicoff in action with guide Reid Pletcher © Buzz Covington Photography

McFadden echoed those thoughts. “It was the first time that we have been able to do this together so it was nice to have the team effort instead of just having to go out there individually, we were really able to support each other out there.”

The team’s decision to only include two competitors in the first race was all about strategy as the number of skiers and overall makeup of the team were carefully calculated all week by the U.S. coaching staff.

“The most important thing today for us as a nation is that we got to field two full relay teams,” said Team Leader John Farra. “Team relays are such a great way to bring the team together. We all did face paint today and really felt like Team USA, I am really proud of how the guys performed.”

Open relay results here.
Mixed relay results here.