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By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Sinead Russell has been swimming with world-class athletes since she was six. Okay, she wasnt exactly competing against them. More like, as she swam on her back, kicking through the water with swim fins with the sound of her singing echoing throughout the pool, Olympic medalist Nina Zhivanevskaya trained in the lane beside her. In the 11 years since then, Russell has gone on to establish herself as a pretty good swimmer herself. Shes still doing the back- stroke minus the fins and the musical accompaniment and doing it well enough that it is taken her to Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Guam, Barbados and Venezuela over the past few years. The 17-year-old Dolphins Swim Club member will add another destination to her international travels next month after being named to the Canadian team for the Commonwealth Games. Russell will com- pete in the 200-metre individual medley as well as the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke when the Games open in Delhi, India Oct. 3. The youngest of the 27 swimmers Canada is sending to India, Russell has set her sights on breaking the Canadian record in the 200m backstroke (Im not really there enough to get medals, she says). Her best time is less than a second off the record of Lauren Lavigna (2:10.03), a mark that was set before the ban on the buoyant full-body suits that led to a re-writing of the record book. Russell said the 200m has become her best event, surpassing both the 50m and 100m events in which she competed at the World Aquatic Championships last year. Last year I had a bit of trouble with (the 200m). I was more of a sprinter, she said. Now its changed and my sprint down is helping me with the 200m. But if she can set the record, it should be enough to get her into the final, says her father and high performance trainer, Cecil Russell. If you can be in the top eight and be a finalist, who knows what can happen, he said. The Grade 12 student at Burlington Central has had a lot of experience at high level events. She has raced at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships, the World Championships and the Pan Pacific Championships since the beginning of 2009. All of those have helped her in preparing for the Commonwealth Games. This is the one Im most ready for, she said. The first one is about your mindset and getting ready for racing internationally. The second one is getting better and getting used to the competition. Russell has also stepped up her training in preparation for the Commonwealth Games. Shes currently in the pool about 19 hours each week, with another four and a half hours of dryland and weight training on top of that. Russells brother, Colin, would likely be joining her in India but decid- ed to bypass the Games to focus on school. Having recently graduated from the University of Toronto where he studied pharmacology, he is now preparing to do his mas- ters degree. Russell hopes to follow in her brothers footsteps in mak- ing it to the Olympics. She said she got nervous just watching him race in Beijing. She fights her own nerves by read- ing the night before her races. The day of the race, behind the blocks, the adrenaline is so high, Im not nervous and then when you hit the water, you just concentrate on the race. And if all else fails, she could always sing a little song. w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER Fr id ay , Se pt em be r 1 7, 2 01 0 3 8 Seventeen-year-old Dolphins Swim Club mem- ber Sinead Russell is one of 27 swimmers Canada will send to India next month for the Commonwealth Games. Russell doesnt expect to win a medal at the Games, but she hopes to break the Canadian record in the womens 200- metre breaststroke. MICHELLE SIU / OAKVILLE BEAVER Dolphins swimmer to compete at Commonwealth Games If you can be in the top eight and be a finalist, who knows what can happen. Sinead Russells trainer, Cecil Russell Kyle Jones finished 37th at the world triathlon championships in Budapest last weekend. Hampered by cramps in his calf muscles, Jones struggled on the bike and then in the transition to the run, his quadriceps began to spasm. "I tried to push through but my legs just wouldn't cooperate," Jones said on his website, kylejones.ca. The 25-year-old was the lone Canadian competing in the elite men's race after teammate Simon Whitfield was forced to withdraw from the event. "I felt like I was very well prepared for this race," Jones said. "I felt great all week so it's frustrating not being able to execute on the day." Triathlete disappointed with showing at worlds