McKeever adds gold to Canada's Games haul

VANCOUVER–While it was a disappointing day for Canadians on the hockey rink, their Paralympic compatriots more than made up for it at Whistler.

Canadian skiers captured four medals – three of them gold – on Thursday, their best day at the first Winter Games held in this country.

Success came early as visually impaired cross-country skier Brian McKeever captured his second gold, this time in the 10-kilometre race.

McKeever, 30, of Canmore, Alta., completed the course with his older brother, Robin, in 26 minutes, 1.6 seconds. They were nearly 90 seconds ahead of Helge Flo of Norway and guide Thomas Losnegard.

"It was hard," McKeever told The Canadian Press. "We were fighting a lot out there. I wasn't totally comfortable with the pace for that distance."

Also on the course at Whistler Paralympic Park, Colette Bourgonje, 48, of Saskatoon added a bronze medal in the 5-km (sitting) race to the silver in the 10-km she captured on Sunday.

A little farther up the Sea to Sky Highway later in the day, alpine skiers Lauren Woolstencroft and Viviane Forest added to their medals.

Woolstencroft, 28, a Calgary native now living in North Vancouver, won her third straight gold, this time in the standing downhill.

"I'm super happy," Woolstencroft, who was born missing both legs below the knee and her left arm below the elbow, said of her first medal in the downhill in three trips to the Paralympics. "It has been a great Games so far."

Woolstencroft, an electrical engineer, now has eight Paralympic medals, including six gold. She still has two more races at these Games. "Obviously, I'm feeling great and super confident," she said. "I'm looking forward to it."

Forest, 30, a Quebec native now living in Edmonton, battled despite a sore groin to win her third medal, first gold, in visually impaired downhill.

"I was so petrified in the chairlift," Forest said of the injury she's had for a couple of weeks. "I'm very sore. I was pushing my luck a bit."

But Forest said her guide, Lindsay Debou of Whistler, kept reinforcing positive thinking as they got ready to race.

"We have three colours so far, a whole set," Forest said of the gold that goes with a silver in slalom and bronze in giant slalom.