Van Landeghem is Olympics-bound
Winnipeg swimming prodigy dreaming of gold
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This article was published 15/04/2016 (3680 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Chantal Van Landeghem is finally on her way to the Olympics.
At the Canadian Olympic swimming trials, Van Landeghem qualified for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with a time of 53.9 seconds in the women’s 100-metre freestyle.
“When I found out I made the team, it was a mixture of relief and happiness. This is something I have been looking forward to for a very, very long time,” she said. “For that to become a reality, it was a great feeling and an even better moment.”
Van Landeghem has been prepping for this moment for four years. One one-hundredth of a second is all that separated her from a berth in the 2012 Olympics in London.
By all accounts,that was a heartbreaking moment for a young swimmer who’d put in a tremendous amount of time and effort honing her craft.
Ever since she was 12 years old Van Landeghem has been competing for Canada, and at 18, her chance to represent her country on swimming’s greatest stage just barely eluded her in a pool in Montreal.
“That meet was obviously heartbreaking, but it was such a learning opportunity and it made me a stronger competitor and a stronger person,” said Van Landeghem, a Vincent Massey Collegiate grad.
“I think I was able to use that (at the trials) and learn from my mistakes from the past and not let the nerves affect my race.”
Despite her disappointment, Van Landeghem was back in the pool in under a week after the 2012 trials and back on the hunt.
She watched the Olympics and cheered on the girls who beat her out of a spot on Team Canada. She said that as she watched, she knew she’d have another shot.
“It was tough just because that failure was so fresh but I was back in the water four or five days later,” she said. “I actually wanted to get back in. Swimming is something that I love so it was easy for me to want to get back in and not end off on such a poor note.”
Van Landeghem spent the next three years at the University of Georgia where she won two NCAA national swimming titles before red-shirting her senior year to move to Toronto to train for the Olympics.
“It was such a cool feeling because swimming is often thought of as an individual sport,” she said, “but down in the collegiate system in the U.S., it’s anything but. It was great to share that moment with a group of girls who are really like your family.”
The move to Toronto paid off. Van Landeghem went on to win gold in the 100-metre freestyle event at the 2015 Pan Am Games, setting a new Canadian record in the process.
“It’s something I will never forget. It was my first international meet and it was in Canada,” she said. “I’m looking to continue that momentum this summer.”
That momentum will hopefully carry her to the podium in Rio but she’s being realistic about her expectations on swimming’s biggest stage.
“Getting on the podium would be the result of all my other goals coming true,” she said. “You can never control what the other girls are going to do. Three girls could set world records and I can’t be disappointed then if I don’t get on the podium.
“I’m going in wanting to set best times and wanting to swim a perfect race. If that happens, it should set me up to be a contender.”