Lori Melien of Whitby continued her quest for a berth on Canada’s Summer Olympic swim team as she won three gold and two silver medals to earn honors as top female swimmer at the Canadian winter championships held last week in Edmonton, Alta.
“I had one of my best meets ever,” said Melien, 15, an Anderson C.V.I. student. She won the 50 and 100 metre backstroke and 50 backstroke and 50 freestyle.
“It’s absolutely phenomenal,” says Irveen Powley of the Ajax Aquatic Club to which Melien belongs.
“We’ve got another Olymipian on our hands,” she predicts.
Melien was pleased that she achieved personal bests in all five events. She’s still hoping to shave another half second off the 1200 backstroke in the Olympic trials, May 28-June 2 in Montreal to reach a qualifying time she feels is necessary to earn a trip to the Olympics.
“It’s getting there,” she says, adding that much training is yet to come, both in the pool and on weights. Melien was a bit taken aback at her results in the non-backstroke events.
“I wanted to do well in my backstroke, but I was surprised about the other two events,” she says. She says that a U.S. swimmer pushed her to her first place finish in the fly event.
