Victoria Poon’s on her way to Peking

A native of Hong Kong and resident of LaSalle, 23-year old swimmer Victoria Poon has qualified for the Olympic Games in Peking. During the Olympic trials held at the Montreal Olympic Park pool, she won the 50-metre free swim and broke the Canadian record by 5/100 of a second.

Already qualified in the 4 X 100 metre free swim relay team, Poon aimed for the gold in the 50-metre free swim competition, encouraged by some 2,000 spectators. Achieving a new Canadian record of 25.47 seconds, she will be the only swimmer to participate in this competition in Peking. “I haven’t achieved my best performance in the last three years so I was really happy, and especially since this now qualifies me to compete in Peking. The crowd was incredible. Swimming in my own home pool with all the people who were kind enough to encourage me made me swim even faster.”

Poon captured third place in the 100 metre free swim competition so she will not be able to compete in this individual category in Peking. Having made it in 55.83 seconds, Victoria Poon qualified for the relay competition. “I would have liked to do better in less time, but it’s my first final and I couldn’t ask for better. I was confident of my 50-metre free swim.”

The 6’1” swimmer trains at the Montreal Olympic Park and studies management at McGill University.