The burgeoning list of 2019 medallist swimmers from Saanich Commonwealth Place continues to grow.
Jade Hannah, 17, won the gold medal in the women’s 100-metre backstroke Wednesday in 59.63 at the 2019 FINA world junior championships in Budapest, Hungary.
“Top step on the podium is so amazing because I know all of the hard work I put in to get there,” said Hannah, who was a finalist as a 16-year-old in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
The Claremont Secondary student showed her stamina by returning to the water less than an hour after her individual golden performance to help propel Canada to the bronze medal in the 4x100 IM relay.
“To stand up there again with the best team and the great support team that we have was also amazing,” Hannah said in a statement.
“It was an incredible day.”
Hannah is among a group of emerging young NextGen program swimmers out of the High Performance Centre-Victoria at Saanich Commonwealth Place.
That group includes University of Victoria athlete-of-the-year Danielle Hanus, who won four silver medals this month at the 2019 Lima Pan American Games, and Claremont grad Faith Knelson of Ladysmith, who captured Pan Am Games silver and relay bronze in Lima.
Also part of the Saanich Commonwealth Place brigade are Mackenzie Padington, Jeremy Bagshaw, Jon McKay, Chantel Jeffrey and Eric Hedlin, all who represented Canada this summer in the 2019 FINA world aquatics championships in South Korea, with the veteran Hedlin winning 5K open-water bronze.
