A pair of Ridge Meadows Swim Club competitors have won the right to race in Canada’s Olympic trials.
Grade 12 students Keenan Gander, 18, and Daniel Hai, 17, have put in an incredible amount of hard work with the Titans club, and it has paid off in them qualifying for one of the most prestigious swimming events in Canada this year. The 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Trials will be held from May 13 to 19 in Montreal, as the qualifier for the Paris 2024 Games.
There’s no politics in the sport. If you’re fast enough, you qualify – for the trials, and for the Olympics.
So these kids have an eye on the clock at every race, chasing their time standards.
Gander hit the qualifying time in the 400-metre individual medley at a meet in Concord, California, in the summer. It was the last meet of the season.
“I was really, really excited. I had gotten super duper close the year before, and I missed it by under a second,” he said.
He explained that fraction would be “maybe a stroke” too slow after a race of close to five minutes. It was an agonizingly near miss, but made him determined to hit the time.
“I kept trying to get it, get it, get it, and then last meet of the year I got it.”
He said it felt like he had won a championship at the end of a sports season.
Gander has since qualified in the 200m backstroke as well.
Hai qualified in the 200m breast stroke, as he just made the standard last month at UBC, at the Vancouver Pacific Swim Club Winter Invitational.
Hai’s was a dramatic race as well, because he had been posting times that were not close, but then he dropped a shocking nine seconds off his best time to qualify.
“It seemed almost unexpected. Going into the weekend, I didn’t have my eyes set on it at all,” he said.
Like virtually every elite athlete, he attributes the sudden breakthrough to hard work.
“Consistency, especially in practice, is the big thing,” he said.
Most days, these guys hit the pool at 5 a.m. to train for two hours before school, then are back at the Maple Ridge Leisure Centre again for another two hours after school.
In addition, there are also some specialized swimmer cross-fit classes and a pilates session thrown into the mix.
Gander said both of the swimmers had plateaued, but have taken off a lot of time in all events over the past year, as training and physical maturity makes a difference.
He gives credit to their coach Sarah Rudolph, who started with the club when they were in Grade 10.
“Sarah’s really good. I’d never had a coach who was that intense,” said Gander. “She keeps you very on task.”
“I have an alarm set for 4:30 a.m. four out of seven days of the week,” he said.
At the Olympic trials, the top two swimmers in each event earn automatic qualification to Team Canda, provided they’re under the Olympic qualifying time. The top four finishers in the 100m and 200m will qualify for relay teams.
“For us, we’re kind of in the happy-to-be-there category,” said Gander. “We’re not going to be making the Olympics, but I think it’ll be a really great experience. We’re sharing the pool and racing with some of the top athletes in the world.”
“I’m really excited to be there as a swimmer, but also as a fan, and watching it all happen – who makes the team and stuff.”
Hai agreed, and also wants to put up a good time.
“Being there the first time, it’s going to be a good learning experience, and then obviously the goal is to swim fast too,” said Hai. “Swim fast, have fun, and enjoy the week.”
They are both looking at swimming at the university level in Canada.
Hai has applied to a few different schools, is keeping his options open, and wants to take his impressive grades – a 98 percent average – into a top engineering program, and ultimately a career as a mechanical engineer.
Gander, who also boasts a sky-high academic average of 96 per cent, has signed a letter of intent to swim at McGill University. He’s already accepted their hoodie. He wants to study business and polish his French language skills.
The Olympic trials will be the first real taste of La Metropole for him.
“I’m going to McGill, so it’ll be nice to check out Montreal for a week or so.”
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