A Beach born and raised athlete was the top swimmer in the 14-year-old girls category at the Canadian Age Group Championships, which wrapped up in Winnipeg Sunday.
Penny Oleksiak earned five individual gold, shared in three relay gold with her Toronto Swim Club (TSC) team, and also earned three silver and two bronze medals – all in the 14-year-old girls category.
In short, she medalled in all 13 events entered.
Her individual collection is:
• gold in 100-metre back, in both 50- and 100-metre freestyle, and in both 50- and 200-metre butterfly;
• silver in 200-metre back, and in both 200- and 400-metre individual medley;
• and bronze in 200-metre freestyle and 100-metre butterfly.
Highlights include:
• setting a national age-group record (for 14-year-old girls) in the 50-metre freestyle. Her winning time of 26.16 seconds eclipsed the previous mark of 26.26 seconds set the previous week at the Canadian Swimming Championships in Saskatoon;
• just missing a national age-group record in the 100-metre freestyle by 0.10 seconds;
• and shaving eight seconds of her previous best time to win the 200-metre butterfly in 2:16.29.
"I never expected these performances at all," said Oleksiak in an interview posted on the Swimming Canada website part way through the meet, after she had won her third individual gold medal.
"I was actually pretty nervous for my races. But I’ve been training a lot harder this year and have gained a lot more confidence. It’s been a really good season and I want to keep the best times going into next year."
She also helped her TSC team to gold in all three relays entered – 400-metre individual medley relay and both 400- and 800-metre freestyle, the latter also a national record for 13/14-year-old girls.
The Toronto Swim Club was one of two clubs from Toronto to finish in the Top 10 overall with a sixth place finish while the Etobicoke Swim Club, the defending champs, finished second, despite having their home pool – the Etobicoke Olympium – shuttered for the season as it undergoes renovations in preparation for next year’s Pan Am Games. It’s slated for a Sept. 2 opening.
Oleksiak plans to head to Monarch Park Collegiate’s International Baccalaureate program this fall after graduating Glen Ames Senior Public School after previously attending Kew Beach Junior Public School.
Oleksiak comes from an athletic family. Her brother Jamie, 21, helped the Texas Stars win the American Hockey League playoff championship (the Calder Cup). The defenceman was tops in the post season in the plus-minus category (which basically measures the differential between goals for and against that a player is on the ice for) with a plus-13 in 21 playoff games. He also played seven games with the parent NHL’s Dallas Stars.
Her sister Hayley, a Malvern Collegiate grad, helped her Northeastern University rowing team to a Top 20 finish at the U.S. collegiate rowing championships this past spring.
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