As one of the youngest male competitors at last week’s Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Swimming Trials in Montreal, 15-year-old Christina Lake resident James Dergousoff held his own.
“What an experience,” stated Theresa Dergousoff, James’ mother who was in attendance. “We watched some real highs and lows as some athletes qualified for the Olympics fulfilling their dreams and other hopefuls did not, shattering theirs.”
During the trials, Dergousoff focused on the 200-metre breaststroke, 100-metre breast stroke, 400 IM (individual medley) and 200 IM, but he favours the 200-metre breast.
For the 100-metre breast, he placed 39th out of 75 with a time of 1:06.12, and placed 21st out of 74 swimmers in the 200-metre breast with a time of 2:21.24.
Dergousoff missed the “B” finals by 1/10th of a second.
In the 200 IM, Dergousoff placed 35 out of 116 swimmers with a time of 2:09. 93, and in the 400 IM he place 25 out of 69 swimmers with a time of 4:37.64.
As a result of his overall Olympic trials showing, Dergousoff will be participating in two Team Canada teams.
Dergousoff will be heading to Vancouver in May to compete for the Canada Cup Prospects Team, and from Aug. 2 to 4, where he will be participating in the North American Challenge Cup in Edmonton, Alta. The Cup is a tri-country meet between Canada, USA and Mexico.
“(There will be) a lot more competitions for James coming up this spring/summer,” stated Theresa. “After Aug. 4, it will be some much-needed down-time back home in Christina Lake where he can kick back and relax.”