Home-pool advantage helps swimmer claim four medals
Advertisement
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/07/2010 (5851 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Racing in her home pool, Chantal Asselin put on a great show for friends and family, capturing four medals in last week’s Canadian Age Group Championships.
The 14-year-old freestyle specialist from St. James won all her medals — silver in the 1,500-metre; bronze in the 400, 800 and 4 x 100 relay — in her favourite discipline. She also finished fourth in the 200 and fifth in the 100.
“I am a distance swimmer, but I think I’m also pretty decent at sprints,” the Manta Swim Club member said on the Pan Am Pool’s deck shortly after a ferocious final lap earned her a bronze in the 400-metre freestyle by .03 seconds on Sunday evening.
-jul29.jpg?w=1000)
“The last 50 (metres), I thought I have nothing left to do after this, so I might as well go for it and leave nothing in the tank.”
Unlike other sports — track and field, for example — where it would be unfathomable for someone to excel at such a wide range of distances, swimming allows the same athletes to showcase both their speed and their endurance.
“I try not to get too focused on one distance,” Asselin said. “I just think it’s about how fast you can get your stroke rate up, and then how long you can hold your pace.”
Manta coach Tom Hainey said Asselin is a tireless trainer, who is determined to outwork her competition in order to make up for one thing that’s beyond her control: her 5-foot-5 frame.
“You wouldn’t guess that she’d be such a strong (swimmer by looking at her),” Hainey said. “You think of slender, tall athletes… and she’s very muscular and compact. But she’s got really good technique and an incredible work ethic. She’s not afraid to do the work.”
As far as Asselin is concerned, her height — it isn’t unusual for her to race against girls who are 6-feet or taller — gives her motivation.
“I figure if I can beat people at whatever height I’m at, imagine what I could do at their height,” said the Sturgeon Heights Collegiate student. “I’d be that much further ahead.”
For someone who’s only 14 year old, Asselin is pretty far ahead in the swimming world.
She was on Manitoba’s team at the 2009 Canada Summer Games, and has already recorded national qualifying times at the 50-, 400-, and 1,500-metre freestyle distances, doing the latter when she was just 13. Asselin was also part of the 4 x 50-metre medley relay team that set a new Canadian record at last year’s Prairie Winter Invitational.
By the end of this season, Asselin is hoping to add national qualifying times at the other three freestyle distances, enabling her to compete against the country’s best swimmers regardless of age.
Fellow Manta swimmer Chantal Vanlandeghem led the way for Manitoba at the age group nationals, winning seven gold medals, a silver and a bronze as part of the provincial 4 x 100 relay team.