Canada’s cross-country legend McKeever makes history with 16th Paralympic gold medal

In other Paralympic competition, B.C.’s Natalie Wilkie captured her third medal of the Games, a silver in the women’s 10-kilomtre cross-country race.

It was a happy coincidence that Brian McKeever wore bib No. 16 on Saturday.

Canada’s cross-country skiing legend captured his 16th Paralympic gold medal, tieing German alpine skier Gord Schoefelder for the most victories by a male winter Paralympian.

McKeever wrote a golden closing chapter to his remarkable career, cruising to victory in his final individual event at the Beijing Paralympics, along with his guide and longtime friend Graham Nishikawa.

The 42-year-old from Canmore, Alta., has swept the podium in all three individual cross-country events for four consecutive Paralympics.

It’s never been about making history for McKeever, he said, but rather taking it one race at a time and enjoying the journey.

“I’ve never thought about (the record),” McKeever said. “And, to be perfectly honest, that wasn’t the goal.

“It was just about trying to have a good day, and that’s what we’ve always done, we’ve tried to have our best day on the day. Performance on demand is very, very difficult to achieve.

“And with the fact that we’ve done it for years … I’m proud of what we’ve done here. Especially as a bunch of aging veterans.”