McKeever is looking to secure a spot on the Canadian Olympic team for the second time after becoming the first man to be named to both Olympic and Paralympic squads for Vancouver 2010.

However, despite making the squad four years ago, McKeever was denied the opportunity to make history after he was overlooked for the 50 kilometre cross-country team during the Olympics.

After impressing at last month's IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup in Canmore, winning two gold medals, the 34-year-old returned to the Canmore Nordic Centre - built for the 1988 Calgary Olympics – for the Olympic Trials and put in a superb performance to cross the line first in the men's 15km individual start classic-ski race in 46min 02.4 sec.

Sitting in second place at the midway point, the three-time Paralympian powered through the second half of the race to take the victory ahead of Graeme Killick and Kevin Sandau.

"I am super satisfied today," said McKeever, who suffers from Stargadt's disease - a rare form of macular degeneration that affects central vision - and is legally blind.

"For me it is all about the preparation and the process and that is all I can focus on.

"Everything else is out of my control.

"But this result is good validation of all the hard work that myself and those around me have done over the last four years, and especially this year.

"My strategy going in was this is a four-lap race.

"It is not over after two.

"I wanted to get into a good rhythm and keep the pace throughout all four laps."

Brian McKeever won the first of his seven Paralympic gold medals at Salt Lake City 2002 ©AFP/Getty Images