Later this month, the Saskatchewan Sports Awards gala will be held virtually, celebrating the outstanding achievements of individuals in the province’s amateur sport community. Multiple awards will be handed out in two categories – excellence and recognition. This year, southeast Saskatchewan will be represented in the awards by a Paralympian who captured Canada’s first medal at the Paralympics in Tokyo. 

Midale’s Keely Shaw, a track cyclist, has been nominated for the Saskatchewan Sport Female Athlete of the Year Award. This comes as the 27-year-old captured a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in women’s individual pursuit C4.  

Shaw made her debut in cycling in 2017, and as a member of the national team, finished 5th in the 2018 Paracycling Track World Championships. She would then earn her first podium finish in the 2019 World Championships, finishing in second.  

While excelling on the track, Shaw is also busy at the University of Saskatchewan, where she has completed her Master's degree in the area of exercise physiology and sport nutrition with a thesis called The Effect of Dark Chocolate on Metabolism and Performance in Trained Cyclists at Simulated Altitude.