Reid Maxwell breaks his fifth Canadian record at Paralympic swimming trials

Photo: Katie Cosgriffe off the blocks in 100 backstroke (Swimming Canada)

TORONTO – Reid Maxwell of St. Albert, Alta. might need his own chapter in the Canadian Para swimming record book.

The 16-year-old giant lowered his Canadian record in the men’s S8 100-metre backstroke clocking one minute and 08.86 seconds on Saturday, the sixth day of competition at the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Trials.

Maxwell, a towering six-foot-four amputee born without his right leg, also achieved his second ‘A Standard’ with the performance which puts him in strong position to be nominated to his first Paralympic Games set for late this summer in Paris.

‘’I’m pretty happy although I’m starting to feel tired which is what I expected at this point of the competition,’’ he said. ‘’The crowds here are definitely helping and giving me a lot of energy. It’s just going really good.’’

The 100 back is an event Maxwell hopes he can produce a satisfying result in Paris.

‘’It’s one of my better events,’’ he said. ‘’It’s great to get the A time in the event.’’

The women’s 100 backstroke featured a showdown between Canada’s top-two S10 swimmers: 18-year-old Katie Cosgriffe and veteran 10-time Paralympic medallist Aurélie Rivard.

Cosgriffe produced a personal best by clocking 1:08.52 to win the multi class race while Rivard finished in 1:11.28. It’s also a second ‘A’ Standard for Cosgriffe.

‘’I wasn’t expecting to swim that fast,’’ said Cosgriffe, a world championship team member last year with two top-five finishes. ‘’My goal was to break 1:09 (her previous best was 1:09.29) and executing specific points in my race plan. I’m really happy with how it turned out.’’

Shelby Newkirk of Saskatoon met the requirement to be nominated to the Games team as she beat the ‘A’ standard for the S6 100 back clocking 1:22.33. She was ranked second in the multi class race. The rankings are based on the swimmer’s time in relation to the world record in their category.

S14 swimmer Emma Van Dyk of Hamilton lowered the Canadian record to 1:10.99 in the prelims and went 1:11.36 in the final.

After six days of competition, 11 Para swimmers (four men and seven women) have beaten the A standard. Canada is allocated spots for seven men and 15 women for the Games.

The seven-day competition ends Sunday at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, with the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic teams for Paris 2024 set to be nominated Sunday night.

The trials are being carried live on CBC.ca . Preliminaries are at 9:30 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. ET each day.

QUALIFIED FOR NOMINATION (“A” qualifying time): PARIS 2024 PARALYMPIC GAMES (after Day 6 of Trials)