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KRASNAYA POLAYNA, Russia - Two hundred metres into the race, Brian McKeever was suddenly on his backside and it appeared his ninth career Paralympic gold medal was slipping away. But he wasnt letting it go without a fight and the Canmore, Alta., cross-country skier, led by guide Graham Nishikawa of Whitehorse, caught up to the pack to win the mens visually impaired sprint at the Sochi Paralympics on Wednesday. Its McKeevers second gold of the 2014 Games and the 12th medal of his illustrious Paralympic career. The 34-year-old also won gold in the 20-kilometre event on Monday. The two Canadians easily advanced to the final where a Russian skier stepped on McKeevers pole, causing him to crash around the 200-metre mark of the one-kilometre race. But McKeever scrambled to his feet and, with the help of Nishikawa, caught up to the rest of the pack. "It wouldnt be right for me to tell you what I said in my head, but once the cuss words were out, the only thing you can do is get back up and race," said McKeever. "I thought we were clear, but that is normal and it happens in sprinting when you are all fighting and tight. Everyone is going flat out. It is intense and everyone is at their limit. We are just fortunate it happened in the first 200 metres and not at the end so we had time to catch up." Meanwhile, alpine sit-skier Kimberly Joines of Rossland, B.C., finished second in the womens slalom although the results are still unofficial after a German skier appealed her disqualification from the first run. A decision is expected Thursday morning. Not including a medal for Joines, Canada has eight medals (two gold, two silver, four bronze) and sits third in the overall tally. Russia has a wide lead with 47 total medals while Ukraine is second with 14. Canadas goal is to finish in the top three in gold medals but is currently in fourth with McKeevers two. Ukraine is third with three while Germany is second with five and Russia leads with 16. Nishikawa admitted he felt a rush of panic when he saw McKeever go down. "It wasnt until we got back up around the Russians and had the Swedes in sight that I felt a huge relief," he said. McKeever credited Nishikawa with getting him the gold. "The snow was so heavy today," he said. "He basically towed me up that hill and ... and gave us a chance. It is not how we planned things, but that was a pretty awesome day." Swedens Zebastian Modin hung on for the silver medal, while Russias Oleg Ponomarev won bronze. Earlier this week, Nishikawa shared guiding duties with Erik Carleton to lead McKeever to his first gold of the 2014 Games. But Carletons name was on the start list so he was the only one to receive a gold medal. Nishikawas performance Wednesday has earned him a gold of his own. "It feels absolutely awesome," said Nishikawa, who races on the able-bodied World Cup circuit. "I said earlier this is a whole new world for me. Im so impressed by everything. This whole experience has been amazing and I just wanted to do whatever I could to be here and help Brian. We have been friends for a long time so this is very special." A handful of other Canadians also competed in the sprint races. Chris Klebl of Canmore qualified for the mens sit-skiing heats but did not advance to the final. Robbi Weldon of Thunder Bay, Ont., along with her guide Phil Wood of Canmore had their day come to an end in the semifinals of the womens visually impaired category, while Paralympic rookie Brittany Hudak of Prince Albert, Sask., did not advance past the womens standing semifinals. In curling, Canada improved to 6-1 and clinched a spot in the semifinals with a 10-4 victory over South Korea. Nike Zoom Scontate Italia . TSN 1290s Jordan Cieciwa, Big Marv and Toby are here to give their predictions on who will leave with the belt and who will take some of the other key bouts on the card. Johny Hendricks vs. Nike Zoom Saldi . The result was a game-winning, power-play goal. Chiasson snapped a third-period tie and lifted the Dallas Stars to a 3-2 victory on Monday night. http://www.nikezoomscontate.it/. Osasunas Alvaro Cejudo drove the ball onto the crossbar in the fifth minute and his team squandered several long-range strikes before he was denied one-on-one by goalkeeper Jaime Jimenez in the 50th. Nike Zoom Italia . -- The Detroit Lions made it crystal clear to Golden Tate that he was their top target in free agency. Nike Zoom Offerta . DeGrom outpitched Jake Peavy in a tantalizing hitless duel that carried into the seventh inning Saturday night before the New York Mets broke loose and beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2.PARIS -- Novak Djokovic worked his way back into the French Open final, taking care of Ernests Gulbis and his big serve 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 Friday on the first sunny day of this years tournament. The second-seeded Serb was able to control the pace of the match on Court Philippe Chatrier while letting Gulbis unforced errors mount. The powerful Latvian, who was playing in his first Grand Slam semifinal, finished with 44 errors. Djokovic is a six-time major champion who needs to win the title at the French Open to complete a career Grand Slam. He also reached the final at Roland Garros in 2012, but lost to eight-time champion Rafael Nadal. Djokovic will next face either Nadal or Andy Murray in Sundays final. They were up next on Chatrier. Djokovic was first to get into trouble in the first semifinal, but he managed to save two break points and hold to 2-2 in the opening set. A few minutes later, he was ahead for good. Djokovic needed three attempts to earn his first break of the match, and he finally got it when Gulbis sent one of his many forehands long. It was also in that game that Gulbis had his first of five double-faults. His second double came in the final game of the set, when Djokovic broke again. And his third came when trailing Djokovic 4-3 in the second, when the Serb broke yet again. "Im not used to (playing) these kind of big matches," Gulbis said. "Its just normal I felt extra nervous and extra tense." Gulbis fared better in the third set. He again had two break points while leading 3-2, but again failed to win the game. However, he didnt waste his chance two games later, breaking Djokovic to take a 5-3 lead before serving out the set with his 11th ace. The two traded breaks early in the fourth set, and Djokovic broke again to lead 5-3 when GGulbis, again double-faulting once in the game, sent a backhand long.dddddddddddd Djokovic won the last game at love. "It was a struggle out there," Gulbis said. "I felt maybe throughout the match I hit five really clean shots, from either side, backhand or forehand. Even serve." After nearly two weeks of overcast skies and cool temperatures, the sun was shining on centre court and Djokovic and Gulbis were more interested in staying cool than staying warm. Both players used ice wrapped in towels around their necks, like players often do at the sweltering Australian Open, as the temperature reached 28 degrees C (82 degrees F) on Friday. Djokovic is now 5-1 against Gulbis, a 25-year-old player who as a teen showed the potential for becoming a star. But Gulbis has said recently that he is only now playing his best tennis, and only because he has decided to leave the party lifestyle behind and focus on his sport. He certainly showed that at Roland Garros. Gulbis had reached the quarterfinals at a major only once before, and that was way back in 2008 at the French Open. In that match, he also lost to Djokovic, but in straight sets. This year, he eliminated 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the fourth round and sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals. "The more I play these kind of matches, the more Im going to get used to these situations," Gulbis said. "For me, I take only the positive stuff out of it. Yeah, I need to be in these situations once, twice, three times, and then I can maybe make that extra step." Djokovic, however, is playing even better. He has won three titles so far this season, and has beaten Nadal the last four times they have played, including on clay in the final in Rome last month. ' ' '