Brian McKeever’s decision to ski the entire one-kilometre Paralympic men’s visually impaired sprint race without kick wax on Sunday (March 21) at Whistler Paralympic Park was all just part of his plan.

Dropping his guide and brother, Robin McKeever, less than halfway through the race was not.

It all worked out well, though, for the three-time Paralympian, who captured his third gold medal of the 2010 Games, the seventh of his career, by beating out second-place Nikolay Polukhin by 4.1 seconds. Zebastien Modin of Sweden — who, at just 15, was the Games’ youngest competitor — took the bronze.

McKeever, the Canmore, Alta., athlete who has just 10 per cent vision because of Stargardt’s disease, said the decision to go without kick wax and use skating skis in the classic-technique race — which meant he had to double-pole the entire race — was made based on both the conditions and the nature of the course.

“It was definitely harder on the uphill sections, but it was fast on the downhills and I think you saw that on the final pitch,” McKeever said.

McKeever said he had tried the no-kick-wax strategy successfully at last year’s International Paralympic Committee World Cup event here last year, and that others have used it with success when the conditions are wet but hard, as they were Sunday.

“We played our cards right today,” he said. “We tried to qualify fast, then conserve energy in the semifinals and go without kick wax on the skis in the final. It’s always a bit of a gamble but it paid off for us today.”

Because of the disability staggering system used in the Paralympics, the McKeevers started the race 29 seconds behind Modin and 25 seconds behind Polukhin and Frank Hofle of Germany.

The McKeevers made up the stagger on a downhill section about halfway through the race, but by then he had become separated from his brother and was on his own when Polukhin went down going around a corner.

Brian McKeever said given his impairment, he was fortunate to steer clear of the other skier.

“That was a scary moment,” he said. “I just made a good call and got by him, fortunately.

“That (getting separated) wasn’t really planned. We just kind of got separated in the tracks there with me out front. Robin just tried to keep skiing and stay out of the other skiers’ way.”

By the finish line, Robin McKeever was just five metres behind his brother.

McKeever, 30, actually made Canada’s Olympic Nordic skiing team but Canadian coaches passed him over for four other skiers when choosing their competitors in his best event, the men’s 50-kilometre classic race.

Earlier last week, he said he “definitely” wants to go for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2014, which would make him the first winter sports athlete to complete in both in the same year.

Last Thursday (March 18), McKeever won his second gold of the Games, winning the 10 km classic event despite some issues with communication and staying “in sync” with Robin McKeever on the course.

While McKeever’s margin of victory — 40 seconds — was convincing in his earlier victory in the men’s 20 km freestyle race, this one seemed like more of a statement. In a race that took him 26 minutes, one second, he beat out silver medalist Helge Flo of Norway by one minute, 26 seconds, and bronze medalist Polukhin by 1:29.

While the outcome was never really in doubt after the first split time, though, the McKeever brothers said they had some problems with communication, both between the two of them and with their coaches.

“It wasn’t a perfect race today,” said Robin, a former national team skier and Olympian who has guided his brother at three Paralympic Games. “We had some stress just trying to stay in sync, plus where we started, we couldn’t get the information on where the other competitors were.”

Brian McKeever, who started in the middle of the 16-competitor field, said part of the problem was that they were so far ahead when their split times came in that it was difficult to know where the other competitors were.

“We had an idea where we were, but you never really know,” he said.

Another problem on Thursday was that Brian is stronger at classic-technique skiing, whereas Robin is better at skating (freestyle), which can make staying together in course a bit challenging.

But the result shows that they managed it reasonably well, Brian said.

“Classic may be my event, but 10 km is definitely not,” he said. “I was just trying to hold pace and listening for the split times of the other competitors and reacting to that.”

Added Robin McKeever, “If we have perfect race I think we can put another 30 seconds (faster) on what we did today.”