Team USA successfully participated in 2015 Can Am Para-swimming Championships on March 21-23, 2015 in Toronto. During the three days of competition Team USA broke a total of 28 records: one world, 17 American and 10 Pan American records.
Seventeen-time Paralympic medalist Jessica Long broke a world record in the 400-meter free (S8) women’s race at a new beautiful Toronto Pan Am Sports Center on the first day of the tournament. This is the first world record broken at this venue. Long outswam her previous record set at the London Olympic Games in 2012.
Can Am Para-swimming Championships are international test events for the upcoming 2015 Parapan American Games which will take place this summer in Toronto. U.S. Navy veteran and Paralympian Brad Snyder (Baltimore, Maryland) won Male Swimmer of the Day on Day 3 for his swim in the men’s 100 free while Kayla Wheeler (Lynnwood, Washington) and Roy Perkins, Jr. (Del Mar, California) were recognized as Female and Male Swimmers of the Meet for their impressive performances at the 2015 Can Ams, including both American and Pan American records.
U.S. Consulate Toronto took an active part in cheering and supporting the athletes at the competitions. Together with MP Chisu, President Swimming Canada David de Vlieger on March 20, 2015, U.S. Consulate Public Affairs Officer Hilary Renner participated in the opening ceremony of the 2015 Can Am Para-swimming Championships on behalf of Ambassador Heyman and welcomed more than 200 athletes representing eleven countries at the Can Ams.
U.S. Consul General Jim Dickmeyer met Team USA athletes on Sunday, March 22 to congratulate them with their achievements and records. He met with the swimmers Jessica Long, Cortney Jordan, Tucker Dupree, Roy Perkins, Brad Snyder and Anna Johannes, and wished them all the luck during the Parapan Am Games in Toronto in August 2015.
