Competitive swimmers heading for Olympic Trials
Four Lethbridge Amateur Swim Club (LASC) members are getting the opportunity of a lifetime to swim at next week’s Olympic Trials in Toronto with the hopes of heading to the Summer Olympics Games in Paris as a part of Team Canada
Those swimmers are Raine Arden, Owen Guyn, Tanner Sanders and Taylor Ginther.
Both Arden and Guyn had to be under the times of 23.95 in the 50m freestyle and 51.79 in the 100m freestyle to qualify for Olympic Trials.
Sanders was under the same qualifying process for the 50m freestyle and the 14-year-old Ginther qualified under the Junior qualifying standard after being below the 27.86 in the 50m freestyle and the 1:08.26 in the 100m backstroke.
“It’s always cool to go to a meet like this [and]racing the best guys in the country and having the opportunity to go to Paris is pretty cool,” said Arden.
Arden’s answer was simple when asked about how you see success at Olympic Trials.
“The better guys have an easier time with this, but you just got to go out and race and you can’t think about the stakes of it or the bigness of the moment because like nerves can really mess with you,” said Arden.
Arden has been working hard in the weight room and in the pool, been more focused on his diet, looking at his mobility and flexibility and making sure he is in a proper sleep routine.
“I’ve basically put everything aside to train for this,” he said.
“I feel really grateful to have this opportunity,” said Guyn.
“A lot of people don’t get to compete at this level in their careers ... because of injuries, or because of age or whatever factors there are. So I feel really grateful to be able to go and represent Lethbridge and represent LASC the swim club in Toronto this year. Yeah it’s just a really cool opportunity to go race against the best swimmers in Canada.”
Guyn has been swimming for over 20 years and now figured the time was right at age 27 to take advantage of this opportunity while he is young and physically able to.
“I’ve got to give it one more shot at a level like this, the Olympic Trials level, where it’s just that step above where I’d ever competed before and I think it was kind of my last opportunity I think to do that,” said Guyn.
“I’ll be 31 if I continue going to the next Olympics. So I think this is kind of my last hurrah and I’m excited to just go and see what I can do.”
The key to Guyn’s training was going fast in the pool.
“The volume of my training went down and the intensity went up,” said Guyn.
“So a lot more full speed efforts, a lot less just swimming back and forth, and I felt that’s helped me a lot in terms of my top-end speed and that’s what the race I’m doing is it’s just pure speed. You don’t breathe at all during the race, it’s just anaerobic.”
Guyn has been competing more this year.
“This year I tried to prioritize six different competitions before Olympic trials,” said Guyn.
“I’ve had the chance to get out there and actually race and get some racing experience. So that’s I think been possibly the biggest factor in preparation, [has] just been getting in the pool and racing .”
Swimmers have to be in the top 2 in addition of being under the 21.96 in the 50m freestyle and 48.34 in the 100m freestyle at Olympic trials to qualify for the Summer Games in Paris.
A swimmer can also qualify for the Olympics if they are a part of the 4x100m Freestyle relay and finish in the top 4.
Guyn, Arden and Sanders will race in the 50m freestyle on May 18, Arden will swim in the 100m freestyle on May 16 and Ginther swims in the 100m backstroke on May 15 and 50m freestyle on May 19.
Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Trials are from May 13-19 in Toronto.