Newmarket will be represented on the world stage as three homegrown swimmers compete for Team Canada at the Pan American Games this week.
Alexander Axon, Danielle Hanus and Brayden Taivassalo are all part of the 36-person Canadian team that will take to the pool as the Pan American Games start in Santiago, Chile Oct. 20. The three swimmers, who all hail from Newmarket, started as juniors with the Newmarket Stingrays Swim Club.
Coach Sam Shalovsky said he can recall coaching the three swimmers about to compete on the international stage.
“It’s always exciting when you put kids on a national team,” he said. “It’s exciting to remember back what they were like when they were kids, how far they managed to go.”
All three swimmers have garnered accolades as they grew and advanced to swim clubs beyond Newmarket, each qualifying for the Canadian team earlier this year.
Hanus won four silver medals in the pool at the Pan-Am Games in 2019 and currently swims for the High Performance Centre in Vancouver.
Alexander Axon swims for the Markham Aquatic Club and competed at the FINA World Championships in 2022 after earning two silvers at the 2022 Canadian Swimming Trials.
Brayden Taivassalo, also with the Markham Aquatic Club, qualified for his first international senior competition this year by winning in the 200-metre breaststroke at the 2023 swim trials.
Speaking from Chile, Axon said he feels grateful for the opportunity.
"It's an amazing experience," he said. "It's amazing to be here with all the athletes from all the different countries."
Getting ready has involved weeks of training, but Axon said he feels confident and is happy to have a healthy body ready to perform.
“There’s definitely been ups and downs through my athletic career,” he said. “You have to keep pushing through it and eventually things will work.”
Hanus expressed her excitement about getting to compete in her second Games.
“It’s been a tough few years, but I’m excited to be able to rep the Leaf again,” she said on social media after making the team again in April.
As a development director, Shalovsky said it becomes apparent which kids have potential as they mature. He said the club’s philosophy is to get its young swimmers to do a 400-metre medley and train in all the different strokes, so they can transition to whatever swim stroke type suits their body best as they develop.
“Kids develop differently as they age and also at different times,” he said, adding that even a couple of percentage points can make a difference in the pool. “We’re talking small margins.”
The local club continues to develop hundreds of swimmers each year. He said COVID-19 hit the club hard and has hurt endurance development in swimmers, but they have several kids competing for Canada in different age groups. They also have their first swim meet of the season this weekend, the Richmond Hill Fall Classic.
“We certainly have some very good young talent coming up."
This being his first indoor competition with the senior national team, Axon said he hopes to gain good experience and hopefully get a personal best.
“Just keep pushing forward,” he said. “It’s great it’s at the start of the season. I can see where I’m at with training.”
Swimming will get underway Oct. 21 to 25 for the Pan Am Games. Live coverage of the games will be available on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.
