A local athlete is one step closer to reaching his goal of competing in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio.
Last week, former Smithers resident Jonathan Dieleman was part of the first group of athletes to be named to the national para swimming team for this year’s Parapan Am Games in Toronto.
He was one of 23 men and 16 women to make the team, including 19-time Paralympic medallist Benoit Huot and three-time Paralympian Adam Purdy.
During the trials, Dieleman swam his way to two first place finishes in the 150-metre individual medley (IM) and the 50-metre breaststroke.
“I hadn’t done it much before that, but I ended up getting first place in the 150-metre IM,” he said.
While Dieleman was surprised with his IM finish, he hopes to improve on his other swim.
For the past few months, he has been working towards breaking the national record of swimming the 50-m breaststroke in under a minute.
In the finals last weekend, even though he won, he swam it in one minute and two seconds.
“I wasn’t happy because I was working on getting under a minute, which is a national record. I just missed it by two seconds,” he said.
In preparation for the Games in August, he plans on getting back into the pool and swimming five days a week, in addition to his triathlon cross-training.
But his focus remains the same — shaving seven seconds off his swim.
“The Parapan Am Games is going to be a major qualifier for the Paralympic Games. The time that I have to beat for the 50-m breaststroke in 55 seconds,” he said, adding that between January and March he was already able to shave 20 seconds off his swim.
Richmond’s Craig McCord, who will serve as head coach of the team, said the Games are a huge stepping stone to the Paralympic Games.
“The team this summer is made up of 25 swimmers who will also compete at IPC World Championships in Glasgow and have the potential to compete for medals at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games,” said McCord in a press release.
“We are working in a number of areas to develop our next generation of athletes identified as 2020 podium potential, and they will have the opportunity to compete at Parapan Ams on home soil.”
While he has high aspirations for the Games, Dieleman is excited to compete on a larger stage.
“The biggest thing that I’m excited about is that the Games are going to be just like any international thing where there’s going to be an athlete’s village,” he said. “Plus the fact that it’s going to be in Canada . . . and being on the national team is going to be pretty cool.”
Dieleman, who is the only person from the North to make the national para swimming team, will compete in the Games from Aug. 7-15.