One of the marquee events of the Canada Games, swimming, came to an end on Thursday. There were over 100 total medals up for grabs in the pool, and lots of provinces made their mark in the medal table.
Three Medals for the Hosts!
Team NL had a successful time in the pool, as they came away with three medals, courtesy of Thomas Pelley and Gavin Baggs.
Thomas Pelley earned two medals for Newfoundland and Labrador. In his first race, he placed second in the Special Olympic Men’s 100m Freestyle, finishing with a time of 1:03.09. In Pelley’s final race, he earned a Bronze Medal in the Special Olympics 50m Freestyle, finishing with a time of 28.52.
After the race Pelley’s coach, Keelin Tucker, said Pelley “worked really hard in the preliminaries and achieved his best time, he focused on improving and making corrections for the finals. We’re so proud he came out with a third-place finish.”
Pelley had also previously medaled at the 2022 Canada Games in Niagara, where he won two silvers and a bronze.
Gavin Baggs also medaled in the pool, nabbing Team NL’s first medal of the Games on the first day of the swimming competition, which was a silver in the Para Men’s 200m/400m Freestyle. For Baggs, it was his first-ever Canada Games medal in his fourth Games appearance.
“I was coming in here hoping for a medal,” said Baggs, “I knew it was never a real big possibility, but to come out here in front of the home crowd in my fourth Games and get a medal is just so special.”
Baggs swam in multiple other races throughout the week, including fourth-place finishes in the Para Men’s 150m/200m IM and the Para Men’s 100m Freestyle.
Other Good Showings
While no other Team NL member finished the Games with a medal, there were still some good performances from various swimmers on the team.
James Traverse swam in multiple A finals throughout the week, with his best finish coming in the Men’s 50m Backstroke, finishing with a time of 27.68 seconds. He also swam in the A finals of the Men’s 100m Backstroke, finishing eighth overall with a time of 59.86, as well as eighth overall in the Men’s 200m Backstroke, finishing with a time of 2:13.04. Traverse also swam in two B finals this week, finishing third in both the Men’s 100m Freestyle and the Men’s 200m IM.
Anna Rideout participated in four B finals throughout the week, where she finished first in three of them, which were the Women’s 200m backstroke, Women’s 400m IM and the Women’s 200m IM. Finishing first in the B finals means Rideout placed a very solid ninth overall in those events. In addition to swimming in multiple B finals, Rideout featured in the A final of the Women’s 200m Butterfly, finishing with a time of 2:30.12, and also swam in the Women’s 1500m Freestyle, the longest swimming race at the Games, finishing 8th overall.
Alexandra Campbell swam in the A final of the Women’s 200m Backstroke, finishing 8th overall with a time of 2:25.41. Campbell also participated in the B final of the Women’s 100m Backstroke, finishing with a time of 1:07.65, good for second in the race and 10th overall, as well as the B final of the Women’s 100m Freestyle, also finishing second in the race and 10th overall with a time of 1:01.59.
Karter King swam in the A finals of the Men’s 100m Breaststroke, finishing seventh overall with a time of 1:08.36.
Maddy Ladha swam in three B finals, the Women’s 100m Freestyle, the Women’s 200m Freestyle and the Women’s 400m Freestyle. She finished third in both the 100m Freestyle and 400m Freestyle, good for 11th overall. She also swam in the Women’s 1500m, finishing 12th, and the Women’s 800m, finishing 13th.
Opening Ceremonies flag bearer Nathan Luscombe swam in a few races over the last week. He finished fifth in both the Para Men’s 50m Freestyle and 100m Freestyle.
Kiarra Higdon finished first in the B final of the Women’s 200m Butterfly and ninth overall with a time of 2.35.01.
Tyler Breakspear finished second in the B final of the Men’s 200m Butterfly, with a time of 2:16.81, which was good for tenth overall.
Kallie Symonds finished first in the B final of the Women’s 200m Freestyle and ninth overall after finishing the final race with a time of 2:10.92.
Emilia Young swam in three B finals this week, with her best finish coming in the Women’s 400m Freestyle, with a time of 4:45.36, good for fourth in the B final and 12th overall. She also swam in the Women’s 800m Freestyle, clocking in a 9:41.84, good for 10th in the race.
Getting to swim at home in the Canada Games is a very rare opportunity, and it meant a lot to the Team NL swimmers who got to swim and compete in front of their home fans. Here’s what some of them had to say about it:
