It was an exciting competition for Kippens athlete Katarina Roxon.
She recently travelled to Gatineau, Que. to compete in the 2011 Summer Can-Am International Swimming Championships – finishing with four gold and three silver medals, and personal best times in three of the seven events she competed in.
The first place finishes came in the 50-m freestyle, 100-m freestyle, 50-m breaststroke and 100-m butterfly; while the second place finishes were in the 100-m breaststroke, 200-m breaststroke and 200-m butterfly.
“Now we have to ramp up the intensity in the next few months to the next level,” said Leonard Roxon, Katarina’s father and coach.
“With the current training program, we have only four training quarters left before the 2012 London Paralympics. … We continue to target the various energy systems and we will continue to focus on perfecting her technique. This time, as in the past, we are gaining new knowledge on training modes through discussions, analysis and research.”
Katarina qualified for the London, England, games with a 100-m breaststroke swim she did last year at a World Championships meet.
“Now that school is over, she has decided to take the year off before going to University to focus on London 2012,” said Leonard. “Her sister Miranda has also taken the year off from University to help with Katarina’s training. Intense training as required to medal at the Olympics/ Paralympics is by its very nature extremely taxing.
He noted training alone can become tedious and take a toll mentally on a long-term basis, so Miranda’s training with her sister is a critical element in Katarina’s preparations for the games.
“Katarina also gets some great training on the days she gets to train with her friend Susan Green,” he said. “Since we do all our swim training during the public lap swims, sometimes some of the Masters category of swimmers who come to the swimming pool in Stephenville regularly join in and it has become a great atmosphere of fun, combined with hard training for the girls as well as some of the other swimmers. We are so thankful to have such a wonderful group of swimmers and staff at the (Regional Aquatic Centre) in Stephenville.”
