Canadian swimming has kept the Faith. It has been rewarded by Islander Faith Knelson鈥檚 steady progression from the Ladysmith/Chemainus Swim Club to the High Performance Centre-Victoria at age 14 to now an NCAA Pac-12 athletic scholarship with the University of Arizona Wildcats.
Internationally, Knelson followed up her fourth-place finish at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games with the 2019 Pan Am Games bronze medal at Lima in the women鈥檚 100-metre breaststroke.
On a Canadian women鈥檚 swim team that has been punctuated by meteoric spikes by teenagers, such as that of Penny Oleskiak at Rio 2016, the 17-year-Knelson鈥檚 rise has been measured.
Knelson won four medals at the 2017 world junior championships in Indianapolis and was part of the Canadian team that set the world junior record in the women鈥檚 4x100 freestyle relay.
After just missing out on a Commonwealth Games medal last year in Gold Coast, the ascension to the podium in Lima is a career breakthrough in a multi-sport Games setting. The 2019 Claremont Secondary graduate said she was inspired by Canadians Danica Ludlow and Alyson Ackman taking silver and bronze in the women鈥檚 400-metre freestyle race before her final.
鈥淪eeing Alyson and Danica get on the podium, while I was in the waiting room, just made me get after it in the first 50,鈥� said the Knelson, an honours student, who will take a 3.5 (out of 4.0) GPA from Claremont to the University of Arizona.
鈥淚 laid it all out there and that was the plan,鈥� added the Ladysmith-raised swimmer.
鈥淚 knew if I had a great front end, I could get on the podium. I鈥檓 really happy with it. The time, honestly, it was whatever. I kind of just wanted to go and have fun. I was telling everyone in the pit before that I鈥檓 just going to go swim.鈥�
Dani Hanus, named this spring as the University of Victoria Vikes female athlete of the year across all sports for 2018-19, won her morning preliminary race with the second-fastest qualifying time and was racing in the women鈥檚 100-metre butterfly final on Wednesday night.
Natasha Wodak, well known on Island streets as a member of the Prairie Inn Harriers, won gold in the women鈥檚 10,000 metres in a Pan Am Games record 31:55.17 as track and field began in Lima.
鈥淭his one is definitely the most special. I have never won a medal in a Games event so I just felt really good,鈥� she said.
Wodak is a former sa国际传媒 10K champion, six-time winner of the Harriers Pioneer 8K on the Saanich Peninsula and two-time winner of the half-marathon event of the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon.
鈥淏eing 37, and having been doing this for so long, it鈥檚 really good,鈥� she added.
鈥淎lso, it鈥檚 really good points going into the Olympics, so I鈥檓 hoping my ranking will stay nice and high.鈥�
The Elk Lake-based Canadian rowing crews completed two days of qualifying and all advanced to their Games finals, which run today through Saturday. Highlights included Patricia Mara of Victoria winning her repechage in women鈥檚 lightweight singles and Jessica Sevick her preliminary race in heavyweight singles. Canadians up first today in the finals are Jessica Loutit of Victoria and Larissa Werbicki, who qualified second in women鈥檚 pair, and Layla Balooch and Shannon Kennedy, who qualified third in the women鈥檚 double.
James Kirkpatrick of Victoria and his former UVic Vikes teammates Keegan Pereira and Brenden Bissett finished 3-0 in men鈥檚 field-hockey pool play, defeated Trinidad and Tobago 5-1 in the quarter-finals and play Chile today in the semifinals.
Defending Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist Argentina is in the other semifinal against the U.S., setting up potential gold-medal final Saturday between sa国际传媒 and Argentina for the direct Olympic qualifying berth into Tokyo 2020.
Island athletes have been part of eight medal wins in the 2019 Pan Am Games so far. They include Knelson, Wodak and Victoria field-hockey players Maddie Secco and Anna Mollenhauer, who are guaranteed either gold or silver when sa国际传媒 meets world No. 3 Argentina in the women鈥檚 final Friday.
Teenage-prodigy Mathea Olin of Tofino won surf bronze and track cyclist Erin Attwell of Victoria and triathletes Desirae Ridenour of Cowichan Bay and Hannah Henry of Victoria silvers in the mixed relay.
Caroline Crossley, Pam Buisa and the Langford-based Canadian women鈥檚 rugby sevens team won gold and the men鈥檚 sevens squad silver with Luke McCloskey and Brennig Prevost of Victoria, Patrick Kay of Duncan and former UVic Vikes stars Nathan Hirayama and Sean Duke.
There are more than 50 Island or Island-based athletes on the Canadian team in Lima, with the Elk Lake-based Canadian rowing team beginning competition today.
There were 20 medals, including 13 gold, won by Island athletes at the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games and 21 medals, including three gold, won by Islanders at the 2011 Guadalajara Pan Am Games.
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