Teen leaves competition in her wake

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This article was published 27/03/2023 (929 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There must be something in the water in Manitoba.

The province has produced no shortage of elite female swimmers in recent years with Chantal Van Landeghem, Kelsey Wog and Mia West, just to name a few.

This past year has seen the emergence of yet another name, Mia’s younger sister, Halle West.

Halle, who hails from Charleswood, broke out at the 2022 Canada Swimming Trials in Victoria, B.C., where she became the fastest-ever 13-year-old Canadian in the women’s 200-metre individual medley with a time of 2:18.21.

“I was not expecting it. I didn’t know that was a thing that would happen,” said Halle on Monday.

“After the race, I was pretty proud of it, and happy and surprised by the result. It was really cool to see that.”

Halle, now 14, is hoping she can build off it at this week’s Canadian trials in Toronto and qualify for the country’s junior national team that is heading to the World Junior Swimming Championships in Israel in September. The team is comprised of 24 swimmers between the ages of 14-18.

There are five Manitobans in Toronto, with Mia, Sport Manitoba’s 2021 Junior Athlete of the Year, and Eric Dupre also looking to lock down spots on the junior team. Wog, a 24-year-old who competed for Canada at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and 22-year-old Carson Beggs are also at the meet. Wog and Beggs are trying to secure berths to the World Aquatics Championships (July 14-30 in Fukuoka, Japan) and the Pan American Games (Oct. 23-Nov. 5 in Santiago, Chile).

Vlastimil Cerny of the University of Manitoba swim team and Manta Swim Club’s Tommaso Panizza are there in coaching roles.

The six-day event begins today and runs through Sunday at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. A total of 623 athletes from 148 clubs across the country will be in action competing for spots on this summer’s national teams.

“That would be really amazing, especially if my sister made it as well with me, that would be really cool,” said Halle. “It’d be an honour to represent Team Canada for the first time.”

You could say the West sisters were born to swim as their parents Bo and Riley are two former competitive swimmers who met at Arizona State University.

Halle and 16-year-old Mia train with Manta Swim Club.

They sisters combined to earn Manitoba six medals at the 2022 Canada Summer Games in Niagara, Ont, with Halle winning gold in the 100m breaststroke, silver in the 200m breaststroke, and bronze in the 50m breaststroke. Mia stood on top of the podium in the 200m butterfly and added silvers in the 200m individual medley and the 200m freestyle.

“It was always good growing up with swimming parents because they understand it and can help us through it. They kind of coach us on the side a little bit and help us at home with things and they’re really understanding. But they also never forced swimming onto us. They let us do what we wanted,” said Halle.

“And now with my sister, I’ve always looked up to her and I train with her every day, every practice, so she really pushes me and it’s really cool to see her doing really well. It’s inspiring to see that.”

Halle is heading into the trials on a high note as two months ago she broke a 35-year-old Canadian record in the short-course metres version of the 100 breaststroke for 14-year-olds. Halle touched the wall at 1:08.09, edging out Allison Higson‘s National Age Group Record of 1:08.64 that was set in 1988.

“She doesn’t know what her limits are which is a great thing,” said Panizza.

“She keeps pushing herself and she’s such a hard worker. Nothing is going to stop her from doing something hard because she wants to achieve her goals.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31