Danielle Kisser impresses at Can Am Trials

MINNEAPOLIS – Danielle Kisser of Surrey, B.C., made giant strides last year but just missed qualifying for the Paralympic team. On Thursday, she continued her surge by winning the women’s 100-metre breaststroke in the SB6 disability category at the Can-Am Para Swimming Championships.

The competition is the only opportunity for Canadian Para swimmers to qualify for the 2013 IPC World Swimming Championships set for August 11-18 in Montreal.

“It felt really good to get the win,” said Kisser, who set a personal best time of 1:48.10. “After the preliminaries I knew I was in for a close race. I really needed to improve the second half of my race and that’s what I did. I’m hoping this can be good enough to get me on the world team.”

Other winners in women’s competition were: Sarah Mehain of Vernon, B.C., and Kirstie Kasko of Okotoks, Alta., in their respective 100-m breaststrokes; Kasko, Aurelie Rivard of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., and Maxime-Valerie Olivier of Montreal in the 100-m freestyle; and Brianna Nelson of Victoria and Morgan Bird of Calgary in the 50-m butterfly.

It was also a successful evening for Paralympic team member Nathan Stein of Maple Ridge, B.C., who collected silver medals in the S10 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke.

“Those were my first races since London so it was great to be back in action,” said Stein, a silver medallist in the 50-m freestyle at the Games. “I love racing and it was nice to see my teammates again. We’re all excited about the worlds being in our home country and everybody is racing fast.”

Posting victories for the men included Devin Gotell of Antigonish, N.S., Maxime Rousselle of St-Alexandre, Que., Christian Daniel of Calgary and Zach McAllister of Lethbridge, Alta., in the 100-m freestyle; Michael Qing of Regina, Jean-Michel Lavalliere of Quebec City and Stefan Daniel of Calgary in the 50-m butterfly and Rousselle and Isaac Bouckley of Oshawa, Ont., in the 100-m breaststroke.

Competition continues Friday.

[Hangat-News]