January has been a memorable month for Whitehorse Glacier Bear Swim Club members Alexandra Gabor and Bronwyn Pasloski.

Both swimmers competed in their first overseas swim meets in Geneva and Luxemburg City as part of the 2008 Euro tour, winning a combined nine medals and achieving numerous personal bests throughout the two events.

"I was very pleased," said Glacier Bears head coach Marek Poplawski. "I think that it was a real eye opener for the girls to see something different than in North America, different swimmers of course, different environment, different languages to be exposed to, which is important to start doing those things if you want to be an international star one day."

Gabor and Pasloski were the only two swimmers in the Glacier Bears program to compete in the Euro meets. They went as a part of Swim Canada, which held qualifications for the European tour in July.

The Canadian team was made up of 32 swimmers in total, which were divided into two main categories: youth and junior. The top eight swimmers in each category for both male and female were selected for the team.

Gabor and Pasloski swam in the youth category.

Swimmers from across Europe and North America took part in the two meets, which each featured a total of 800 participants.

The first competition was held in Geneva from Jan. 18-20. Highlights in Geneva for Pasloski included winning a bronze medal in the 100-m breast stroke for her age group, an eighth place finish in the 400-m individual medley final, which is open to all age levels of competitors at the event, as well as a fourth place finish in the final of the 200-m Individual Medley and Sixth in the 200-breast stroke.

Pasloski, 15, competed in five swimming events in Geneva and made the finals in all of them.

Gabor, 14, placed second in the 400-m, won another silver in the 100-m freestyle and a bronze in another event at the meet.

The meet in Luxemburg City was particularly special for Gabor, who broke the Canadian age group record for 13 and 14 years old, which had been set in 1989. Her time of 2:02.32 was just over one second faster than the previous best finish of 2:03.35. The time was also a new personal best for her by two seconds and won her a gold medal in her age group. Gabor finished an impressive fourth in the 200-m freestyle 'A' final.

In the 800-m freestyle she finished second in her age group and improved upon her personal best time in this event by an incredible 15 seconds.

Gabor won a total of four medals, two gold and two silver, in the meet in Luxemburg.

Pasloski also raced very well at the meet in Luxemburg City, held from Jan. 25-27. She placed third in her age group for the 100-m breast stroke and made the 'B' finals in every event for both her breast stroke and individual medley events.

At the European tour, Pasloski set new personal best records in the individual medley, while Gabor, between the two meets, recorded new best times in all of the events she competed in.

Gabor said the highlight of both meets was breaking the 16-year-old Canadian record in the 200-m freestyle.

"I just went in wanting to swim and get a best time, you know obviously I had it in the back of my mind," she said. "I didn't think I would go that fast, but I was so happy."

She said she enjoyed competing overseas for the first time.

"It was a great experience," she said. "It was a good team and being in that team atmosphere was really fun."

Gabor was pleased with how she did at both swim meets.

"In general it was a success for this meet," she said. "There were a couple of things I could have swam better in, but I am not really worried about it."

Pasloski said her expectations were just to swim really well and attempt to achieve new personal bests.

"I was pretty happy," she said. "I thought I could have placed a little higher, but it was probably one of the toughest meets that I have been to."

She said she wasn't overwhelmed competing in Europe for the first time.

"I just tried to stay comfortable," Pasloski said. "Just kind of thought of it like a meet back at home because it is the same thing, it is just in a different location. You just have to stay down to Earth."

Pasloski said the most valuable thing she gained from competing overseas is the knowledge that she would be more comfortable and focused the next she attended a meet outside of North America.