VICTORIA – Tess Routliffe, who missed the Tokyo Paralympics last year due to a back injury, made a successful return to competition on Tuesday night with a victory in the 100-m breaststroke in day one at the Bell Canadian Swimming Trials.
Routliffe, a triple medallist at the 2019 World Championships and a silver medal medallist at the 2016 Paralympic Games, won the multi class race in one minute and 33.80 seconds. She finished ahead of Abi Tripp of Kingston, Ont., in second and Katarina Roxon of Kippers, N.L. in third.
“I’m really happy,” said Routliffe, 23, from Caledon, Ont., and based at the HPC-Quebec in Montreal. “It’s been a rough year. It’s definitely been a journey to get back here. My goal was to hit some times and see where we are at.”
Nicholas Bennett, a native of Parksville, B.C., won the Para multi-class men’s 100-m breaststroke in 1:05.65. That was just off the SB14 Canadian record of 1:05.39 he set during the morning preliminaries.
“The tapering process for this one was a little bit weird,” said Bennett. “It’s extremely pleasant to see where I am at this point.”
James Leroux, Bennett’s teammate at the Quebec centre, was second in 1:11.81 while Jagdev Gill of the Upper Canada Swim Club was third in 1:16.02.
Jacob Brayshaw of the KISU Swim Club in Penticton, B.C., won the multi-class 50-m breaststroke in 2:00.01.
Competition continues through Sunday at Saanich Commonwealth Place.
