When the Paralympics start on August 28th, southeast Saskatchewan will be well-represented as Midale’s Keely Shaw will be taking to track for the second time as part of Team Canada.
“I don’t know that it has fully hit me the momentous event that's coming up yet, but definitely when I allow to get myself to get into the mindset of the Paralympic Games, I am beyond excited and beyond honoured to have the opportunity to represent Canada at my second Paralympic Games,” Shaw told Discover Weyburn.
Shaw has been competing as a para cyclist since 2016. She started the sport after trying a few others after she suffered partial paralysis on her left side in a horse riding accident in 2009. The 30-year-old has quickly climbed the ranks, getting her first medal at the international level at the 2019 World Track Championships individual pursuit, when she won silver. She won the bronze medal at the 2021 Paralympic Games in Tokyo in the individual pursuit, and gold in the individual pursuit at the 2023 Parapan American Games.
This year, as she did in Tokyo in 2021, Shaw will be competing on the track in the velodrome, and the road tracks. She will be racing in the 500-meter time trial on August 29th, then the 3000m individual pursuit on August 30th. She is hoping to be racing twice that day – once in the qualifier, and again in the medal rounds. She will then switch to the road disciplines, where she will race in the time trial on September 4th, and the road race on September 6th.
Shaw competes in the C4 classification for para-cycling. This means she rides a cycle that is similar to what most people would buy in a store, but it has modifications based on the disability.
“My bike in particular has it set up so that everything is done with my right hand,” Shaw explained. “So all of my braking is done with my right hand, all of my shifting is done with my right hand, and that’s a little bit different from a standard bike,” Shaw explained.
While this will be Shaw’s second Paralympic Games, this will be the first time she will get to take in the whole experience. She participated in the Tokyo games, where a number of restrictions were in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I missed out on a lot of that Paralympic atmosphere, the mixing of the different sports, the mixing of the different countries,” Shaw said of the previous experience. “We were at a satellite village where it was just the cyclists, so I’m really looking forward to experiencing a quote-unquote true Games.”
While she is looking forward to the experience, she is also hoping the people of the southeast are watching and cheering her on.
“I always feel that rush of pride whenever I head back home to southern Saskatchewan,” Shaw said. “I know the whole province is behind me, and I feel that when I’m on the start line.”