Danielle
Kisser

 Danielle Kisser has overcome a major injury to return to the forefront on the Canadian Para swimming national team.

In October 2014 she underwent a double-leg osteotomy. The surgery involved her tibia and fibula bones being broken, screws installed, and her ankles rotated to realign with her knees. She was in a wheelchair until January 2015. 

That put her out of contention for the 2015 Parapan American Games and the 2016 Paralympic Games. A member of the Parapan Am Games team in 2011 at age 14, her talents resurfaced in 2018 with two medals at the Pan Pacific Para Championships. Then in 2019 she competed at the world championships and is now headed to Tokyo for her first Paralympics.

She made headlines in 2020 during the pandemic, as she documented on her YouTube channel how she built her own pool in her backyard so she could continue training. She was then named the inaugural winner of the “People’s Choice Award for Most Viral Moment of the Year” at the 2020 Canadian Sports Award. 

Her father taught her to swim breaststroke as a child. While she played other sports, in 2008 her brother’s swim coach encouraged her to pursue swimming. 

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

2013 and 2019 IPC World Championships… 2011 Parapan American Games… 2014 and 2018 Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships

PERSONAL

She received the 2012/13 Fairplay Leadership Award from Delta Sungod Swim Club in Canada…Her mother has played and coached in several national football tournaments in Canada… She was born with achondroplasia… Studies linguistics at Concordia University in Montreal…

NOTABLE INTERNATIONAL RESULTS

• 2019 IPC World Championships 100m breaststroke 9th  
• 2019 IPC World Championships 100m backstroke 10th 
• 2018 Pan Pacific Championships 100m backstroke 2nd 
• 2018 Pan Pacific Championships 50m freestyle 3rd  
• 2013 IPC World Championships 100m breaststroke 5th 
• 2013 IPC World Championships 200m individual medley 7th 
• 2011 Parapan American Championships 100m breaststroke 3rd