Record-breaking Performances at Canadian Paralympic Swimming Trials

"To break one of Benoit’s record is an honour. I came here wanting to put my name out there and show the rest of the world I’m coming."

Summer Mortimer and Benoit Huot swam provisional world records in the 200m individual medley and 50m dreestyle respectively on Sunday (2 April) to conclude the Paralympic swimming trials.

In the 200m individual medley, Huot clocked 2:10.26 to eclipse his previous world mark in the S10 category of 2:11.30 set at the 2010 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming World Championships in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Donovan Tildesley came second in the race and Issac Bouckley third.

"The 200m individual medley is actually my first race at the Games and that could make a difference," said Huot in an interview with Swimming Canada, preparing for his fourth Paralympics. "I’ll be more rested but regardless it’ll be my priority event for London. It should give me a really good start to the Games."

In the women’s 50m freestyle, Mortimer took the final in 28.17 to eclipse her S10 world mark of 28.30 set at the 2010 worlds. Valérie Grand’Maison of Montreal was only 0.11 seconds from her national S13 mark finishing in 27.99.

"It’s great, it’s been a while,’’ said Mortimer, a four-time world champion in 2010. "I wanted to at least beat the record and actually go into the 27 range. My goal for this meet was to be technically perfect for these races and these times are an added bonus for me."

While Huot improved one of his records, he lost his 50m freestyle national mark to surging Nathan Stein, one of the major Para swimmer revelations this week. Stein had equalled the mark in the preliminaries at 24.65 then clocked 24.26 in the final.

"It was a good swim but I was hoping to get under that 24 second benchmark," said Stein, who turned 20 on Wednesday. "To break one of Benoit’s record is an honour. I came here wanting to put my name out there and show the rest of the world I’m coming."

The 2012 Paralympic swimming team will not be finalized until June.

For more information on IPC Swimming, visit www.ipc-swimming.org.