Two-time Paralympic gold medalist Danielle Dorris secured Canada’s first podium finish at the start of the three-day Pan Pacific Swimming Championships by clinching the silver medal in the women’s 50-meter butterfly S5-7 final held in Walnut, California. Hailing from Moncton, New Brunswick, Dorris maintained the lead throughout the race and touched the wall first in 34.42 seconds, just shy of her S7 world record of 32.99.
However, the gold medal was awarded to Katie Kubiak of the United States, who amassed 1,060 points compared to Dorris’s 941. In the morning preliminaries on Friday, Kubiak set a new world record for S5 with a time of 37.21, nearly a second faster than her previous record. Dorris’s teammate, Mallory Weggemann, secured the bronze medal with 926 points in the final race.
The Para Pan Pacific Swimming Championships use a mathematical points system to determine the winners in multi-class events, where athletes with various impairments compete. The points are based on how close a swimmer’s time is to the designated world record standard for their specific class.
Expressing her delight at winning Canada’s first medal, Dorris, one of the four captains representing Canada, mentioned to CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux, “It’s pretty cool to have the first medal for Canada. It’s the first time it’s happened to me. I’m quite happy with that swim, considering how my year was going, [even though] it’s not the time I wanted.”
Dorris, who will celebrate her 24th birthday on September 22, was born with bilateral radial dysplasia, a condition that resulted in underdeveloped arms.
In another event on Friday, Dorris contributed to a Canadian record-setting performance in the mixed 4×100 medley 34-point relay, winning the bronze alongside Fernando Lu, Katie Cosgriffe, and Reid Maxwell with a time of 4:40.11. This achievement lowered the previous national record set at the 2023 World Para championships in Manchester, England.
The Para Pan Pacific Championships also saw Toronto’s Sebastian Massabie securing a bronze medal in the men’s 50 fly S5-7 final with 837 points. Massabie, the S4 Olympic champion in the event in 2024, recorded the slowest time of 36.07 seconds among the five competitors.
Moreover, Nicholas Bennett earned a silver medal in the men’s 200 freestyle S2-5 event with 981 points, finishing behind Gabriel Bandeira. Bennett, who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at the age of three, showcased a remarkable performance at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, securing multiple medals.
Ken Stroud from Richmond, British Columbia, stood out in the men’s 100 free S4-6, S8, S10, S12 event, finishing second to Akito Minai from Japan.
The Para Pan Pacific Swimming Championships mark an important milestone for Para athletes on the road to the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles. The event serves as an ideal platform for athletes to compete under similar conditions and fine-tune their skills for future competitions.