Nikita Ens Nikita Ens

Nikita Ens was nominated to her second Paralympic Games following the 2024 Para swimming team trials.

At the 2023 Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester, Ens (S3) finished fifth in the 50-metre breaststroke, eighth in the 150-metre individual medley (SM3), sixth place in the 50-metre backstroke, fifth place in the 200-metre freestyle and eighth place in the 100-metre freestyle.

At the Madeira 2022 World Para Swimming Championships, Ens captured silver in the 200-m freestyle S3. She placed 4th in the 50-m backstroke S3 and broke the Canadian record. She also placed 5th in both the 50-m breaststroke SB2 and the 150-m individual medley SM3 and 6th in the 100-m freestyle S3.

At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, Ens finished ninth in the 50-m backstroke S3 and 100-m freestyle S3 both in personal best times.

At the London 2019 World Para Swimming Championships, Ens reached two finals in four individual events with eighth place finishes in the 100-m freestyle and 50-m backstroke S3, and lowered her own Canadian S3 record in the preliminaries of the 100 free.

In 2019 she was one of 55 Canadian athletes to receive a grant as part of the Fueling Athletes and Coaches Excellence (FACE) Program from Petro-Canada.

She initially got into Para sports through wheelchair racing and throwing events in late 2015. She had been involved in athletics in high school and was approached by Para swimming teammate Shelby Newkirk after her accident. She was a regular in the pool before her accident, swimming and lifeguarding, and returned to swim in April 2017. She quickly thereafter was connected with the Saskatoon Lasers Swim Club and began her journey in Para swimming, which is culminating in her first Paralympic Games appearance at Tokyo 2020.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

2020 Paralympic Games… 2019, 2022, 2023 IPC World Championships

PERSONAL

Involved in a vehicle collision just outside Meadow Lake on Highway 304 in February 2014 that left her a C5 paraplegic … Before accident she earned a provincial track and field championship for Carpenter High School in 2006 in the senior girls shot put event, served as a lifeguard and rode across Canada on a bike in 32 days… Loves travelling and did a road trip through the continental United States with her mom in 2011.

NOTABLE INTERNATIONAL RESULTS

2023 World Championships 50m backstroke 5th

2023 World Championships 200m freestyle 5th

2023 World Championships 50m backstroke 6th

2023 World Championships 150m individual medley 8th

2023 World Championships 100m freestyle 8th

2023 World Championships 50m backstroke 5th

2022 World Championships 200m freestyle 3rd

2022 World Championships 50m backstroke 4th

2022 World Championships 50m breaststroke 5th

2022 World Championships 150m individual medley 5th

2022 World Championships 100m freestyle 6th

2021 Paralympic Games 50m backstroke 9th

2021 Paralympic Games 100m freestyle 9th

2019 IPC World Championships 100m freestyle 8th

2019 IPC World Championships 50m backstroke 8th