GLASGOW, Scotland – They are athletes at opposite ends of their careers but Benoit Huot and Tess Routliffe both see this week’s IPC Swimming World Championships as one of the final steps on the road to Rio.
This will be Huot’s seventh world championships. He knows the sand is running out of the hourglass of a career that has seen him compete internationally for 17 years and in four Paralympics.
“I have a feeling these could be my last world championships,” said the 31-year-old from Longueuil, Que. “I really want to enjoy them and have a good time. If I am happy and having a good time, I think I can post some decent times.”
For Routliffe, 16, this is her first world championships. She plans to act like a sponge and soak up as much experience as possible.
“There are a lot of veterans here,” said Caledon, Ont., native. “I can look at them, where they have gone and what steps they have taken. I ask them questions all the time, just to see how I can make myself better.”
The championships, which begin Monday at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre, will attract around 580 athletes from close to 70 countries. It will be the largest swimming competition before next year’s Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janerio.
“This is really the preeminent event as we lead up to Rio 2016,” said James Hood, Swimming Canada’s team leader.
All heats and finals will be shown live at Glasgow2015.com. This week’s results will also help countries determine how many athletes they can take to the Paralympics.
Other Canadian swimmers to watch include Adam Purdy of London, Ont., a three-time Paralympian; Aurelie Rivard of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., winner of five medals at the 2013 championships in Montreal; Katarina Roxon, a two-time Paralympian from St. John’s, N.L.; and Nathan Stein, of Maple Ridge, B.C., a silver medallist at the London Paralympics.
In the past, Para-swimming world championships were held every four years. Starting in 2013 in Montreal the championships began a two-year cycle. This will be the first time a Para-swimming world championships will be held the year before a Paralympics.
Huot said many swimmers will use the event as a yardstick to measure themselves for Rio.
“Being a year away it’s a very good point of knowing where the rest of the world is and what we can look at as individuals to get better for the next 12 months,” said Huot, who was born with a club foot. “When the championships were two years out, some athletes were taking time off after the previous Games. The athletes that are going to perform in Brazil next year are already in very good shape and they are going to post some amazing performances this week. It’s going to be good to see.”
Hood said the goal for the Canadian team is 6-8 podium performances.
“It comes down to how some of our new kids and our younger athletes step up in the racing situations,” he said.
A record 15 broadcasters are covering the championships along with 122 accredited journalists.
The list of international stars attending include American Jessica Long, who has won 21 world championship medals; Japan’s Yasuhiro Tanaka, a gold medallist at the 2012 Paralympics; Yip Pin Xiu, who won Singapore’s first Paralympic gold medal in the women’s S3 50-meter backstroke at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics; and Sweden’s Maija Reichard, a Paralympic and world champion in the S11 100-m breaststroke.
The championships end Sunday, giving Canadian swimmers little time to catch their breath before returning home for the Toronto Parapan Am Games which being Aug. 7.
“It’s a little extreme,” said Routliffe. “I’m just thinking once I’m finished with this, we go home and have another huge meet.”
Swimming news courtesy of Swimming Canada.