When in Rome, swim fast.
That’s what Whitehorse Glacier Bears swimmer Alexandra Gabor will try to do when she competes at the World Aquatic Championships in Rome, Italy, at the end of the month.
Gabor qualified for the senior national team that will compete in Rome with a second-place finish in the 200-metre freestyle at the World Championship Trials/Senior Nationals meet in Montreal on Wednesday. She finished second behind Toronto’s Heather MacLean, who set a national record in the race.
“It was really exciting, to say the least,” said Gabor. “It’s something I wanted to get since last summer. I definitely worked hard in practice and it paid off.”
In the race, which she considers her best event, Gabor also produced a personal best time, coming in at one minute, 58.7 seconds, down from 1:59.5.
“I try not to expect anything, but I was hoping to get one of the top two places,” she said.
Having finished in the top four overall, Gabor will also compete in the 4x200-metre freestyle relay at the Worlds.
Being the first Whitehorse swimmer ever to reach that senior national team level of competition, Gabor has set a new high-water mark for the Glacier Bears Swim Team.
“That’s the best accomplishment ever by a Whitehorse swimmer—no question about that,” said Glacier Bears head coach Marek Poplawski. “The first-place finisher that she was behind got a national record, so you can’t do much better than that.”
Teammate Bronwyn Pasloski, also from Whitehorse, began the meet with a fourth-place finish in the 50-metre breaststroke on Wednesday.