Ready for more

Over the last eight days Scott Meenagh has put his body through extraordinary pain, but he says after a few nights rest he’d be ready do it all again.

Meenagh closed out his Paralympic Games with the men’s 7.5km cross-country where he clocked 25:17.5 to finish in 14th – South Korea’s Eui Hyn Sin taking an extraordinary gold with USA’s Daniel Cnossen second and Ukraine’s Maksym Yarovyi third.

That race meant Meenagh had skied close to 60km over the course of his races as well as becoming the first man for 20 years to represent Great Britain in Para Nordic skiing at a Paralympic Games.

With all that to absorb Meenagh was understandably exhausted after the crossing the line on day eight at PyeongChang 2018; but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t put himself through it all one more time.

Scott Meenagh finished 14th in his final race

On cloud nine

“The body is pretty bashed up but if I wasn’t feeling it now then I wouldn’t have given it 100 per cent,” said Meenagh. “I’m strapped up to the max but you need to be willing to put yourself in a dark place sometimes.

“It’s going to take me a while to come down from cloud nine. If you gave me a couple days of rest then I’d be wanting to do this all over again.

“I just love the drive in this environment, it’s just incredible and the spirit of it all made me quite emotional this morning just thinking about the bigger picture and how significant the Paralympics are.

“That really knocked into me this morning and I was really proud I could take to this stage and show some of my spirit and share some of my journey.

“I will continue to do this, I love doing this racing and it’s a pretty satisfying way to compete.”

While Meenagh may be satisfied by his performances in PyeongChang he has consistently hinted towards bigger things to come in four years’ time.

Meenagh raced close to 60km over eight days

Beijing goals

And now that the curtain has fallen on time competing in South Korea, he has firmly fixed his focus on Beijing 2022 and a Paralympic medal.

“I’m going to endeavour over the next few years to make sure I am as close to the best guys as possible in every single race,” he added.

“Today was an honest account of how hard I can work, how fast I can ski and how much I can suffer so I’m really happy with that result.

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t dare to dream and I am seeing what it takes to be at the top of this sport and I am inspired for life now and I am not going anywhere until I have given an absolute account of myself and I am on that podium.”

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