Graham Nishikawa, charging hard right to the end, was not quite fast enough at the Canmore Noram race on Tuesday. The race was the last of a series of contests being used by Cross Country Canada to pick the athletes who will represent Canada at the Olympics in February.

Nishikawa started the men's 50-kilometre race a bit conservatively, but then turned on the after-burners and cranked out some impressive lap times on the tough Canmore course, but in the end he finished two minutes down from the lead, completing the race in fifth place.

Brian McKeever, in a dream come true, paced himself perfectly and pulled off a decisive victory, almost certainly clinching an Olympic berth in the process. He finished the 50-km course in 2:21:05.

McKeever, who has only 10 per cent vision, will be the first athlete to compete in both able-bodied and Paralympics in the winter if Cross Country Canada gives him the nod.

Cross Country Canada wanted to see who was the toughest over the long distance and so chose an interval start format for the race rather than a more traditional mass start. Skiers started individually at 30 second intervals and had to rely on coaches feedback to know how they were doing in the overall standings during the race.

The lead changed lap by lap as the huge climbs took their toll. But McKeever stayed the course and pulled off the victory.

While the fifth place finish was a disappointment for Nishikawa, his Olympic dreams are still alive, albeit a bit dimmer.

Cross Country Canada is planning on sending a team of 12 skiers to the Olympics, but this could expand to as many as 16 depending on how the International Olympic Committee doles out the quotas nation by nation.

Final numbers and team nominations will be announced in mid-January.

Submitted by Alain Masson and Claude Chabot.