March 12, 2014 (Sochi, Russia) – Brian McKeever is certainly capturing the world’s attention in Sochi, Russia. And it is not just because he skied to his ninth Paralympic gold medal on Wednesday in Sochi, Russia.

McKeever and guide, Graham Nishikawa, ploughed through the field and more than 30 centimetres of fresh snow to win their second gold medal of the week in spectacular fashion in the visually impaired sprint races at the Paralympic Winter Games.

Brian McKeever (l) and his guide Graham Nishikawa win gold despite a crash at Sochi 2014 © Matthew Murnaghan/Canadian Paralympic Committee

Leading all qualifiers in the head-to-head heats with the top-12 athletes, the two Canadians handily advanced to the final where the 12-time Paralympic medallist faced the biggest adversity of his career.

Stacked against two Russians, and a Swede in the final, the 30-year-old Nishikawa (Whitehorse) appeared to have led McKeever (Canmore, Alta.) through the cluttered pack of guides and athletes into clear trail until the unthinkable happened near the 200-metre mark.

A Russian skier stepped on McKeever’s pole – sending the 34-year-old airborne and onto his backside – before bouncing back up and hunting the leaders, and his ninth career Paralympic gold medal down.

“Wow, that was stressful,” sighed McKeever at the finish. “It wouldn’t be right for me to tell you what I said in my head, but once the cuss words were out, the only thing you can do is get back up and race.

“I thought we were clear, but that is normal and it happens in sprinting when you are all fighting and tight. Everyone is going flat out. It is intense and everyone is at their limit. We are just fortunate it happened in the first 200 metres and not at the end so we had time to catch up.”

After taking a deep breadth, Nishikawa took control, putting the throttle down and commandeering the Canucks back into contention in the action-packed one-kilometre sprint race.

“When I saw him go down, I immediately panicked and just thought ‘OH NO! Not now,” said Nishikawa. “It wasn’t until we got back up around the Russians and had the Swedes in sight that I felt a huge relief.”

“What a set of wheels on Graham today. That was impressive,” said McKeever. “The snow was so heavy today. He basically towed me up that hill and got me around the Russian roadblock out there and gave us a chance. It is not how we planned things, but that was a pretty awesome day.”

Brian McKeever (l) and his guide Graham Nishikawa win the gold medal in the Men's 1km Sprint Visually Impaired Final © Matthew Murnaghan/Canadian Paralympic Committee

Sweden’s Zebastian Modin hung on for the silver medal, while Russia’s Oleg Ponomarev outraced his countryman for the bronze.

Adding to the dramatics, it was the first time Nishikawa had guided his friend, and training partner, on his own in international competition. After racing together over the last decade in Canada, McKeever recruited Nishikawa into his training group this fall with the goal of bringing two guides to the Paralympics for the first time ever.

Earlier this week, Nishikawa, who races able-bodied both domestically in Canada and on the World Cup circuit, shared guiding duties with Erik Carleton to lead McKeever to his first gold of the 2014 Games. Recognizing the stress the warm weather, and heavy snow conditions was putting on the guides for the long-distance races, the innovative Canadians leveraged both guides – switching at the midway point. With McKeever dropping into third place, Nishikawa stepped in to blaze a trail to the gold medal step of the podium.

Carleton’s name was on the start list so he was the only one to receive a gold medal. But on Thursday, Nishikawa will get his due and receive a gold medal of his own.

“It feels absolutely awesome,” beamed Nishikawa. “I said earlier this is a whole new world for me. I’m so impressed by everything. This whole experience has been amazing and I just wanted to do whatever I could to be here and help Brian. We have been friends for a long time so this is very special.”

From sunny t-shirt weather, to pouring rain, to dumping heavy snow on Wednesday, Mother Nature is sending the world’s top Para-Nordic wax technicians into a daily frenzy at Laura Stadium.

“These conditions are definitely stressful on the wax techs,” said McKeever. “Every day they basically start from ground zero based on the conditions. We had amazing boards today and the guys deserve a lot of credit. We were so fast on the downhills which really got us back into the race today.”

The victory brings McKeever’s career medal haul to 12 at the Paralympics, including his nine gold. If he can chalk up one more victory this week he will become the first Canadian Winter Paralympian with at least 10 gold medals, and third Paralympian in Canada overall to accomplish the feat.

USA's Tatyana McFadden wins silver XC Sprint at Sochi 2014 © Buzz Covington

American Paralympic superstar Tatyana McFadden (Clarksville, Md.) added another accomplishment to her already storied Paralympic career by winning a silver medal in the 1-kilometer sitting cross-country race at the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi.

McFadden finished the race with a time of 2:45.7, just 0.1 behind Norway’s Mariann Marthinsen who won gold in what was the most hotly contested and exciting race of the day at the Laura Cross-Country Ski and Biathlon Center.

Russia’s Marta Zaynullina was third with a time of 2:46.6 and American Oksana Masters (Louisville, Ky.) who already won a silver medal in these Games, finished fourth in the race with a time of 2:47.6. Of the four events Masters has competed in she has now finished in the top five of three of them. Canada’s Colette Bourgonje from Saskatoon also competed finishing 16th.

The race was close from start to finish and played out the way McFadden thought it would, which made sticking to her game plan incredibly important.

“I could not go easy, I needed to go hard from the start,” said McFadden. “I knew that they were coming and I could feel them down my neck. It was a good race.”

This is the 11th Paralympic medal of McFadden’s career but her first ever Paralympic Winter Games medal. McFadden, who is competing in her first ever Paralympic Winter Games also has 10 Paralympic medals in track & field.

Perhaps more interesting than McFadden winning a medal however, is that it comes just less than one year after taking up the sport of Nordic skiing.

John Farra, who serves as the head of the U.S. Nordic skiing program and recruited McFadden to the sport was quick to emphasize how incredible it is for an athlete to medal on the world’s biggest stage after just picking up the sport.

“It’s pretty amazing for Tatyana to be able to finish what she started…taking someone from a summer sport and putting them in a sit ski and teaching them to ski effectively and try to have them win a medal for you is a tough task in just one winter of skiing,” admitted Farra. “I am psyched that it worked out, it was a really exciting race.”

McFadden now joins an elite group of athletes who own both summer and winter Paralympic medals, an accomplishment that had not yet sunk in at the end of today’s race. “I can’t even believe it. My main goal was just to come in and make it to the final,” noted McFadden. “I am just so happy and so proud.”

Andy Soule © Getty Images

The U.S. also had a very successful day on the men’s side as both Andy Soule (San Antonio, Texas) and Lt Cmdr Dan Cnossen (Topeka, Kan.) both made it to the finals of the 1km sitting cross-country final. In another close race Soule finished fifth with a time of 2:38.0 and Cnossen was sixth with a time of 2:39.9.

Chris Klebl, of Canmore, Alta., qualified for the men’s sit-skiing heats, but did not advance to the final while Quebec City’s Sebastien Fortier, and Yves Bourque (Becancour, Que.) also did not qualify for the men’s sit-skiing heats.

Russian Roman Petushkov won the race, finishing in 2:29.4 as Team Russia increased their lead at the top of the medals table with more dominant victories in cross-country skiing as they continued their medal monopoly on home snow in Sochi.

Petushkov earned his fourth gold medal of the Games with a powerful finish in the men’s 1km sitting sprint. He went head-to-head with 19-year-old compatriot Grigory Murygin but Petsuhkov stormed ahead and across the finish line in 2:29.4. Murygin followed in 2:30.6 with Ukraine’s Maksym Yarovyi ruining the chances of another podium sweep as he beat Irek Zaripov in a time of 2:31.6.

It was the fourth top-five finish for Soule, an Army veteran, who continues to impress in these Games. It was also the best finish of the Games thus far for Cnossen.

For both Soule and Cnossen who have trained together and are roommates here in Sochi it was a special moment to race alongside each other in a Paralympic final. “I was glad to see him (Cnossen) make it into the final right there with me,” stated Soule. “We have a really awesome team, I love our team.”

Sweden’s world champion Helene Ripa failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the women’s 1km standing sprint, as she finished 15th in qualifying. In the final, Russia’s Anna Milenina was crowned the Paralympic champion with a time of 4:26.9.

Ukraine’s Iluliia Batenkova finished five seconds later in 4:31.4 and Russia’s Alena Kaufman claimed bronze in 4:31.7. Canadian Paralympic rookie, Brittany Hudak of Prince Albert, Sask., did not advance past the women’s standing semifinals.

In the women’s 1km visually impaired sprint, Mikhalina Lysova and Elena Remizova completed a Russian one-two with six seconds between the pair. Lysova finished in 4:11.5 with Rezimova crossing the line in 4:17.1. Ukraine’s Oksana Shyshkova earned a bronze medal with a time of 4:24.6.

Robbi Weldon, of Thunder Bay, Ont., along with her guide Phil Wood, of Canmore, Alta., also had their day come to an end in the semifinals while Ottawa’s Margarita Gorbournova and her Regina-based guide, Andrea Bundon, did not qualify for the heat

It was an all-Russian final in the men’s 1km standing sprint featuring Vladimir Kononov, Sergey Lapkin, Alexandsr Pronkov, Vladislav Lekomtcev, Rushan Minnegulov and long-distance Paralympic champion Kirill Mikhaylov.

Mikhaylov upgraded from the sprint silver he won in this event four years ago in Vancouver as he won the race in 3:53.5 with Minnegulov (3:53.8) and Lekomtcev (3:54.6) finishing behind him.

“I’m happy because this is a load off my mind,” Mikhaylov said.

“It was a Russian final and yes, it is hard to compete against my friends.”

Full results here.