Skiing with the most decorated Winter Paralympian for Canada, Whitehorse cross-country ski guide returned from his second Paralympic Games with three medals with his teammate Brian McKeever.

Nishikawa, the main guide for McKeever throughout the season leading up to the Games, split the guide duties with Russell Kennedy throughout the races.

Nishikawa said they usually don’t have this option in other competitions and it made sense to use both guides.

“From my perspective, we have an extra guide there, it’s just safer,” Nishikawa told the Star Wednesday. “We can make sure that we keep the speed really high for Brian and using two of us, it’s just almost a luxury to have that option.”

The first race in Pyeongchang was the long-distance 20-km visually impaired free race.

Nishikawa led the race off with McKeever before tagging off to Kennedy for a lap.

Nishikawa entered the race again leading McKeever to a record-setting gold medal.

The medal for Canada’s opening ceremonies flag bearer was the 14th of his career making him Canada’s most decorated Winter Paralympian.

But that wasn’t the end of the medal count for McKeever.

Deciding to rotate guides was also to ensure they can keep pace with the decorated skier throughout the races and for all four of the events at the Games, Nishikawa said.

“With two of us then we’re fresher,” he said. “Normally it’s just me, so we don’t have these kinds of options an strategies, but when it comes to this huge event we’re just trying to give him the opportunity to win.”

So Kennedy got the start in the 1.5-km sprint, which is the race Nishikawa won with McKeever in Sochi.

Even though it was a short-distance sprint race, Nishikawa said he was down on the course and ready to jump in if he was needed but Kennedy and McKeever sprinted to the finish in top spot.

In the final individual race, Nishikawa led the 10-km classic and did again switch off with Kennedy who took a loop in the middle of the race before Nishikawa came back into the finish.

This race was a little bit tighter than the previous two, Nishikawa said, causing some nerves out on the course.

“That one was closer actually, we always came into the Games like three medals has been (Brian’s) goal and were his goal for the last three Games so we just wanted to nail down one more. He is the class of the field there and he should win these events, he’s still in peak shape,” Nishikawa said.

Swedish skier Zebastian Modin was in the lead until the mid-way checkpoint of the race and Nishikawa said it was tight between the two teams. But Modin took a stumble causing him to go of course and couldn’t continue.

McKeever powered to his third gold medal of the games, winning by a minute and 13 seconds over Jake Adicoff from the United States in second.

“It turned out well for us, but it was nerve-racking for a bit,” Nishikawa said of the final individual race.

The gold in the 10-km was the ninth consecutive individual gold medal for McKeever at the Paralympics dating back to the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

“Brian is in just a complete league of his own,” Nishikawa said of his longtime friend and teammate. “He’s completely earned everything, all these medals. There’s nobody close to doing what he does as far as training.

“So I am not shocked by any of these accolades because I see it at every training camp. He’s just always going.”

McKeever and Nishikawa teamed up with skier Collin Cameron in the open relay competition.

Cameron, who competes in the sitting ski races, skied the first and third legs of the race with McKeever skiing the second and anchor legs with Nishikawa.

In sixth place heading into the final leg, McKeever picked up 40 seconds on the race leaders in the last three kilometres of the race to pick up the bronze medal.

The Canadian ski team had a great Paralympics as a whole, Nishikawa said, and the entire Canadian team returned with a record medal haul of 28 medals – smashing the previous record of 19 in Vancouver.

Nishikawa said the ski team is taking a well-deserved break to wind down from the Games and then will begin looking at the future in May. For him, this means spending time with his young daughter he was away from.

“I think everybody needs a little bit of time to figure it out and then we’ll pick it up in May and keep going,” he said. “I have a twenty-month-old at home. We’ll go to the park and get back to normal around here and then hopefully I’ll get up to the Yukon sometime.”