SURREY, B.C. – Veterans Aurelie Rivard and Tess Routliffe both won their races during Sunday’s final night at the Ken Demchuk International Invitational, laying the foundation for what they hope will be golden results later this summer at the Paris Paralympics.
Rivard of Team Quebec, the reigning world champion, won the S10 50-metre freestyle in 28.68 seconds. Routliffe of the High Performance Centre _ Quebec, easily won the S7 200-metre individual medley in three minutes, 01.73 seconds.
“I’ll take it but there’s a lot of things I need to do better,” said Rivard, who set the Canadian record of 27.37 seconds at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. “It was my first long-course meet of the year so we’re just getting started.
“I’m trying to get back into racing and get back into the rhythm. I’m concentrating not necessarily on results but technique, the mental aspect of it and trying to feel more comfortable.”
Routliffe’s time was off the Canadian record of 2:55.77 she set when winning the gold medal at the 2023 Para Swimming World Championships earlier this year.
“We wanted to be close to my best time,” said the Caledon, Ont., native. “We have a lot of room for improvement. I’m pretty happy with where we are right now.”
Sabastain Massabie, a S4 swimmer from the Pacific Sea Wolves, broke his sixth Canadian record in three days. His winning time of 40.64 seconds in the evening finals of the 50-m freestyle was slower than the 40.20 seconds he swam in the morning preliminaries. That lowered the old mark of 47.50 seconds set by Garth Harris set in 1996.
The Surrey, B.C., native also set records in the 50-metre backstroke, 50-m butterfly, 100-m freestyle, 150-m individual medley and 200-m freestyle.
Massabie was named the male swimmer of the meet while Routliffe the female swimmer.
Also breaking Canadian records during the meet was Reid Maxwell of the Edmonton Keyano Swim Club in the S8 400-m freestyle, Charles Giammichele of Swim Ontario in the S7 100-m breaststroke and Shelby Newkirk of the Saskatoon Lasers Swim Club in the S6 200-metre backstroke.
Massabie, Maxwell and Hannah Ouellette, an S5 swimmer from the Saskatoon Lasers Swim Club, all swam Minimum Qualifying Standard (MQS) times during the meet.
Minimum Qualifying Standard (MQS) help determine the size of the team Swimming Canada will send to this summer’s Paralympic Games in Paris.
Canadian swimmers must have secured a MQS to be invited to the 2024 Olympic & Paralympic Trials, Presented by Bell, to be held in Montreal in May.
The qualifying window for the Paris Paralympics opened Oct. 1 last year and closes Jan. 31.
Ouellette won the 200-m individual medley in 4:38.17 seconds and the 50 free in 52.88.
Giammichele won the S7 200-m individual medley in 2;58.52 seconds and the 50-m freestyle in 31.44.
Maxwell, fighting fatigues from a busy weekend, won the 50 free in 28.65 seconds.
“It wasn’t far off my best time so I’m happy with it,” said the Edmonton native.
Mike Thompson, Swimming Canada’s senior team coach and national team performance manager, was impressed by the performances of both newcomers and veterans.
“I witnessed the birth of a new era for our National Swimming Team this week,” said Thompson. “The classification of 14 promising athletes is the foundation of our future triumphs, with Reid Maxwell, Sebastian Massabie and Hannah Ouellette achieving MQS and fortifying our team for Paris.
“I marvelled at the intense hard work put in by veteran athletes like Aurelie Rivard, Tess Routliffe, and Shelby Newkirk, practicing excellence with world-class times. I think Canada is in a very good spot for Paris and beyond. This weekend was just the start.”
Newkirk won the S6 50-m freestyle in 34.16 seconds.
“I’m feeling pretty confident after this meet,” said the Saskatoon resident who won a bronze medal in the event at the world championships.
“This is a little bit of lower pressure but it’s a good chance to see what we’ve been working on, what we want to change and what’s working well.”
The meet, held at the Guildford Recreation Centre in Surrey, B.C., attracted 74 swimmers from seven countries and 20 clubs across Canada. It is named in honour of Ken Demchuk, a Canadian swim official from Regina who developed a points system that allowed swimmers from different classifications to compete in the same race.
For more results please visit https://www.swimming.ca/en/events-results/events/ken-demchuk-international/.
Besides Canada, the meet was attended by swimmers from the U.S., Australia, Ghana, Ireland and Mexico.
Wayne Lomas, Swimming Canada’s associate director of high performance and Para swimming national coach, thanked the people who made the meet a success.
“Special acknowledgment to the Government of Canada for their commitment to and support of our sport, who, along with the Canadian Paralympic Committee are always there to help, both financially and logistically,” he said.
“World Para Swimming, the City of Surrey, and the Guildford Aquatic Centre have also played integral roles, contributing significantly to the success of the event. A sincere thank you is extended to Reg Shaw and the Surrey Knights for their support, without which this achievement would not have been possible.”
Lomas also praised the efforts of “the dedicated volunteers, parents, and family members who generously contributed their time and effort, further enhancing the overall success of this memorable event.
In other events,
Fernando Lu of the Langley Olympians won the S10 50-m freestyle in 25.81 and the 100-m backstroke in 1:03.74.
Etienne Boutin-Cote of Team Quebec won the S3 50-m breaststroke in 1:18.87.
Roy Pan of Pacific Coast Swimming won the S6 200-IM in 3:38.72 and the 50-m freestyle in 36.20.
Antonio St-Germain of Team Quebec won the S12 200 IM in 3:02.60, the 50 free in 31.08 and 100 fly in 1:23.21.
Miori Henault of Team Quebec won the S14 200 I.M. in 3:0.15 and the 50-m freestyle in 32.78.
Mary Jibb of Swim Ontario won the S10 200-m I.M. in 2:48.99 and the 100-m butterfly in 1:10.57.
Maxime Lavitt of the University of Manitoba Bisons took the S13 50 freestyle in 28.23 and the 100-m butterfly in 1:17.99.
In the men’s 200-IM, Ken Stroud of Team Canada won the S10 in 2:30.37, Australia’s Callum Simpon the S8 in 2:35.15 and Ireland’s Deaten Registe the S14 in 2:23.12.
In the women’s 50 freestyle, Niki Ens of the Saskatoon Lasers Swim Club won the S3 in 1:12.92, Hannah Burns of Team Canada the S4 in 1:09.1, Ali Diehl of Team Canada the S9 in 34.17, Maxime Lavitt of the University of Manitoba Bisons the S13 in 28.35 and Ahalya Lettenberger of Rice University the S7 in 36.27.
In the men’s 50-m freestyle, Jacob Brayshaw of Kisu won the S2 in 1:46.92, Felix Cowan of Samak S9 in 28.54 and Tyson MacDonald of the Region of Waterloo Swim Club S14 in 26.00.
Lizzi Smith of Nitro Swimming won the S9 100-m butterfly in 1:10.57 and Melin Sheppit-Edwards of Swim Ontario S14 in 1:32.65.
In the men’s 100-m butterfly, Caleb Arndt of the Newmarket Stingrays Swim Club won the S13 in 1:09.62, Brandon Stanton of the Grande Prairie Piranhas S14 in 1:05.80 and Lucas Culatto of the U.S. took the S8 class in 1:288.33.
The Team Canada team of Newkirk, Massabie, Ouellette and Riley Martin won the 200-m 20-point medley relay in 3:14.38.
The Team Ontario group of Antonio Fricano, Sheppit-Edwards, Kate Smith and George Kierstead won the 400-m 56-point medley relay in 6:03.99.
Mexico’s Ignacio Martinez Soto took the S2 50-m breaststroke in 1:25.08 and S3 50 freestyle in 1:08.67.
Uganda’s Husnah Kukundakwe won the S8 200-m I.M. in 3:14.25 and the 50-m freestyle in 34.33.
Australia’s Nicholson Belando won the S9 200-I.M. in 2:58.99.