Three young Campbell River swimmers from the Campbell River Killer Whales swim club are back from Olympic team trials in Toronto, and they’re already planning how to qualify in 2028.
Keyana Owens set a new club record in the 50 metre freestyle and says the competition was inspiring.
“It was really cool to see people older than me doing stuff I want to be doing when I’m around that age. It made it easier to picture myself doing it,” she says.
Zac Millns says watching his competition helps him benchmark his own performance.
“It was good to see how I was doing racing against all the other people around that speed, seeing how I compared.”
Sarah Haugen agrees and says they’re all proud of how well they did.
“This is the Olympic year, and it’s our first Olympic trials,” she said. “We get to look forward to the next four years and have four years to progress, and hopefully be at the top by then.”
Coach Richard Millns says he’s proud of the group, especially how hard they worked and how quickly they improved their times to qualify for the trials.
“Making the 2024 Olympic trials was a hugely fast achievement,” he said. “They had to break the club records just to qualify for that swim meet, so it’s a very history making group there.”
The trio plans to compete in other world-class events in the coming years and hope to try out again for the 2028 games.
