Gabor wins bronze, breaks Canadian record at World Cup

Alexandra Gabor’s stop at the World Cup in Stockholm, Sweden got off to an incredible start,

Alexandra Gabor’s stop at the World Cup in Stockholm, Sweden got off to an incredible start, with the 16-year-old swimmer winning a bronze medal in the 200 metre event on Tuesday.

The 200 metres is Gabor’s best event, and she really showed it with her time of 1:56:01 in the preliminary rounds and 1:55:06 in the finals.

Coralie Balmy of France was the first place finisher with a time of 1:53:71, followed by Finland’s Hanna-Maria Seppala in 1:54:71 and Gabor.

Her final round time broke the Canadian and B.C. provincial record for her age group of 15 to 17. The previous time was 1:55:46.

Gabor’s Whitehorse Glacier Bears coach Marek Poplawski was extremely happy with the results.

“It is really amazing,” he said. The coach managed to catch Gabor’s race online. He says the race had fantastic play and excellent speed.

Gabor secured a B.C. provincial record for her age group in the 50 metre distance with her time of 25.60 seconds. The time also broke the record for the B.C. Senior/Open.

On Wednesday, Gabor placed 16th overall in the 100 metre free event, moving up from 26th place with a time of 54.22. Her time broke the B.C. Senior/Open provincial record and is now a B.C. 15-17 age group record as well.

In her final event, the 400 metre free on Wednesday, Gabor placed 13th with a time of 4:13:33. Her personal best time for that distance is 4:08:12.

Before leaving for the World Cup, Gabor told the Star she enjoys international meets because she doesn’t know the other swimmers’ strengths, and can concentrate on what she is good at. It seems that attitude fared well for her at the World Cup meet.

According to a press release from Swimming Canada, Gabor was in sixth in the first 50 metres of the race.

By the time she hit 100 metres she had improved her place to fourth and overtook the fourth place swimmer to take third.

Poplawski commended the young athlete for the tough competition she faced – and beat – at the FINA meet.

“To get to the podium, we weren’t expecting that,” said Poplawski.

Heading into the meet Gabor was ranked 11th.

“To put it in context, some of the fastest swimmers in the world are at this meet, and just making finals is a challenge,” said Whitehorse Glacier Bears media liason Gustav Gabor.

The trip to Sweden was meant to be a chance for Gabor to get a little more experience swimming internationally, but the teen took the chance to hit the podium instead.

“This is a big accomplishment, there’s no question about that,” said Poplawski.

Gabor’s win is one of four medals won by Canada, the others were a silver and gold by Brent Hayden and a bronze by Tanya Hunks, both of Vancouver. Hayden won two medals at a World Cup event in Moscow last week.

Canada sent 11 athletes to the event in Sweden. All of Canada’s athletes have so far broken the top 20 in their first few events.

Team Canada is on route to Berlin today for the next stop on the World Cup circuit.

Gabor hoped to have a chance to see the city and celebrations being held there to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall.

The World Cup meet in Berlinbegins on Saturday.