In 140 days, swimmer Tammy Cunnington will represent Canada in Brazil at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
While taking part in the para-swimming trials from April 5 to 10 in Toronto, Ont., Cunnington secured personal best times in four of the five events she tried out for. Personal best times aside, she also secured a world record in the 50m butterfly S4 category by clocking a time of 53.10, beating the previous world record of 56.36.
If that wasn’t enough, Cunnington later beat that record by 0.2 seconds for 52.90 seconds result.
The events she competed in were the 50m freestyle, 50m breast stroke, 150m individual medley, 50m butterfly and the 50m backstroke.
Backstroke was the only event Cunnington didn’t place for Rio, coming in just a few hundredths of a second slower than needed, however, that could change if she improves over the next few months.
“I’m pretty dialed in and I’ve gained some experience,” said Cunnington.
Coming in to trials her focus was to be strategic in her swimming. It seems to have worked because her afternoon times improved over her morning times, something coaches want to see. Cunnington has five months of intense training before Rio and she intends to continue that growth in preparation to represent Canada.
Since the announcement was made that she will represent Canada, the swimmer has been busy with interviews and plans for training and preparing for other swim meets with the next one set for July.
Cunnington was originally from Ponoka and now lives in Red Deer competing with the Red Deer Catalina Swim Club.