Lucas Punkari
Although his times weren’t quite fast enough to qualify for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, England later this summer, earning a bronze medal in the multi-class Para swimmer 50m freestyle race Sunday made this year’s Canadian Paralympic swim trials in Montreal one to remember for former Fort Frances Aquanaut Alex Parent.
“I’m definitely pleased with how my overall performances were throughout the entire week, especially with getting a medal on Sunday,” the 22-year-old enthused.
“It was a little bit hard to get going at the start,” he admitted.
“But I was able to clean up my mistakes from the preliminary races to the finals, and I was able to elevate my performances at night, so I’m very happy with how it went.”
Parent, who currently attends McMaster University in Hamilton, was making his second appearance at the trials after competing for the first time back in 2008, also in Montreal.
“The biggest thing that I was able to take away from my first time there was to be able to perform under pressure,” he explained.
“There are a lot of people in the stands there, even for the prelims, and if you let your head start to wander, you can take yourself out of the race and you end up focusing on things other than your swim.
“It’s important for me that I don’t let that get into my head,” he stressed.
Another difference this year was that Parent was competing in more sprint races than he was four years ago, which led to some fine-tuning between himself and his coach, Andrew Cole, between the events.
“The general trend I found for myself during the meet was just trying to understand the correct pacing for the races,” he remarked.
“For most of the races, I found myself going out there too hard in the prelims and not having enough energy to come back for the second leg of the races.
“My coach and I focused on having a good stroke rate that’s efficient enough so that I have a good speed for the first 50 metres and that I have enough energy for the next 50 metres,” he explained.
“Plus, it also helps out with my breathing, as well, which is typically an issue for me.”
Those changes to his stroke paid off in the 50m freestyle final Sunday as Parent, who competes in the S10/SB9/SM10 classification for swimmers with minimal weakness affecting their legs, was third in his category with a time of 27.18 and just missed out on third in the overall race by one/10th of a second to visually-impaired athlete Brian Hills.
“I had a fairly nice and relaxed swim in the preliminary race that morning, and I ended up being fourth overall going into the finals, so the thought of getting a medal was floating around my head and I was trying to keep that under control,” Parent recalled.
“When race got underway, I felt great and I got off to a fast start off of the blocks, which was something that I was working on with my coach during the warm-up.
“And when I touched the wall, the guy that edged me just out-touched me by one/10th of a second.
“I wasn’t sure that I got the medal [which is determined by what class you are in and is based off of total points that go with your time in the finals] at that point,” he noted.
“So as I was in the warm-down pool, my coach pulled me out and congratulated me for getting that medal.
“It was quite a unique experience.”
After finding out he would be getting a bronze medal, Parent made his way onto the podium, where he was cheered by those in attendance as well as those watching on their televisions since the race was broadcast nationally on Sportsnet.
“It was unbelievable,” Parent enthused. “Just walking out onto the stage and seeing my team cheering me on my left side, and on my right side to see a bunch of strangers cheering for me was an amazing feeling.
“And to also know that through the cameras, people were screaming and cheering my name was also amazing.
“It means so much for me to have their support,” he stressed. “Without them, this is just a medal.
“But for everyone to be proud of my accomplishments makes me appreciate it so much more.”
While Parent followed that bronze-medal swim with a third-place showing in his class—and fourth overall—in the 200m I.M. final with a time of 2:30.95, the swim that impressed him most was his 1:07.47 fifth-place performance (fourth in class) in the 100m butterfly final on Saturday, where he shattered his previous personal best.
“My previous best time going into the meet was around a 1:17, and I dropped 10 seconds off that in the morning and another second off of that later that night,” he noted.
“I hadn’t really focused on the 100m butterfly, so it was really a nice surprise to do well in that race. And that gave me an extra motivational boost that I was ready to perform in my other races.
“I think that helped me out a lot heading into the 50m freestyle on Sunday,” he reasoned.
Parent also won the ‘B’ final of the 100m freestyle on Friday and was second in the ‘B’ final of the 100m backstroke last Wednesday.
Despite falling short of the required times needed to qualify into this year’s Paralympic squad, which will be announced in June, this week’s showing has given Parent the extra motivation to go for it again in four years time.
“I went into the meet saying that I wanted to make the standard time as a goal, but realistically those times have become quicker lately and sprinting is relatively new for me,” he explained.
“I’m not disappointed that I didn’t make the teams as I performed to the best of my abilities, and I can’t take anything but positives from the entire meet.
“However, now that I have that thought in my head that I was able to medal at the trials after doing sprint events for only six months, I’m now pretty determined to commit to another four years of swimming and go for it again in 2016,” Parent remarked.
“That’s the plan as of now, and we’ll see where it takes me.”
