Brian McKeever has won his 20th Paralympic medal in the Men’s Vision Impaired Middle Distance Cross Country event at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games.

Brian McKeever wrote a golden closing chapter to his storied Paralympic career, taking the win in the final individual cross-country ski race of the Beijing Winter Games, according to a Nordiq Canada press release.

The 42-year-old legend proved age is just a number while sweeping all three individual men’s country ski events for the fourth consecutive Paralympic Winter Games.

Led by his guide and longtime friend, Graham Nishikawa (Whitehorse), McKeever won the men’s visually impaired 12.5-kilometre skate-ski race with a time of 33:06.6.

“It was absolutely perfect today. We talked a lot about how we would race it and have been working on the pace over the last two days knowing that if we started it the right way we could adapt to anybody else’s pace throughout the race and that worked out for us today,” said McKeever.

It was the 20th career podium for the six-time Paralympian from Canmore, Alta., and 16th gold, which ties him for the most titles won by a male at the Paralympic Winter Games. Germany’s Gerd Schoefelder also racked up 16 gold medals in alpine skiing.

“I’ve never been interested in leaving a legacy or about how many medals I have won. For me it’s about the process, doing the work, and being the best athletes we can be. We try to do the work as professionally as we can, and the results come with that,” said McKeever, who became Canada’s most accomplished Winter Paralympian at the 2018 Games.

“If there is one thing that I believe we did show through my career is the level that athletes can get to at the Paralympics and how professional you need to be in order to be at the top. If you’re not training a 100 per cent professionally here, it is not possible to reach the podium. The depth of field is pretty incredible now. I’m proud of all of the athletes here because I know how much work they are all putting in now and how competitive it is at the Paralympics,” he added.

Ranked the number one athletic team in the world, McKeever and Nishikawa ironically wore bib number 16 as the final athletes off the start line. The Canadian duo methodically picked apart the field while skiing in complete synchronization in their five spins around the 2.5-kilometre loop that left Nishikawa collapsing at the finish line.

“He is in amazing shape. He definitely put me under. I had my work cut out for me today and I was absolutely spent at the line,” said Nishikawa.“We’ve had such a long journey together, so it was really special to be able to do it one more time and I just wanted to make sure we had a good race today.

“Brian makes it look easy, but I have had a front row seat to seeing what he does, and it is incredible. He works so hard. He is so professional, and he loves skiing. It was a fun day for me.”

Nishikawa is one of four athletes who have had the opportunity to guide McKeever throughout his illustrious career. His older brother, and the head coach the Canadian Nordic team, Robin McKeever, led Brian to the 2002, 2006 and 2010 Games before handing the torch off to Erik Carleton and Nishikawa in 2014. Olympian Russell Kennedy has shared guiding duties with Nishikawa for the aging warrior over the last two Paralympic quadrennials.

“I see what he does in the offseason, so I’m not surprised to see what he does at this age,” added Nishikawa. “Every day he calls me up and we get out and he out-trains me. He is always on. Whether it’s training or picking skis, he knows the waxing and he just loves skiing, and the sport.”

“There may be pressure there to win all these medals, but he didn’t pay attention to that at all this week. He is just so dialled working on strategy, talking about skis. He is just so processed focused, and it is just fun to be part of that.”