The opening ceremonies for the Paralympics will be held today in Paris, France, and among the athletes wearing the red and white of Team Canada will be Midale’s Keely Shaw.
"I am beyond excited and beyond honoured to have the opportunity to represent Canada at my second Paralympic Games,” Shaw told Discover Weyburn while she was at the Cycling Canada training facility in Bromont, Quebec earlier this month.
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 tomorrow, then the 3000m individual pursuit on Friday. 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 much of the attention of southeast Saskatchewan will be on how Shaw does, she noted some of her teammates are expected to do very well at these games.
“We’ve got Nathan Clement, who was a swimmer and won world championships (in cycling) last year,” Shaw said. “We’ve got Mel Pemble, who came from Alpine skiing and won a world championship at her first world championships, and since then has been medalling consistently.”
She added that while everyone got caught up with the emotion and pride during the two weeks of the Olympics earlier this summer, all of the athletes at the Paralympics deserve just as much attention.
“I think so many people have missed out on what the Paralympians have to offer in past years, when maybe news coverage, some television coverage wasn’t as good,” Shaw told us. “This year, as we are continuing on as we did in Tokyo with a little bit more coverage, I’m really hoping that all of the Paralympians and all the sports have a chance to show the world what we’ve got.”
Shaw, though, is still a girl from the southeast at heart.
“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.”