TORONTO — Nicolas-Guy Turbide didn’t know what time he had gone when he touched the wall at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre pool on Wednesday evening.
But impressive performances have become usual for the 22-year old swimmer.
The Quebec para-swimmer managed the best time in the 100m backstroke for the second time in the day clocking 59.93 in class S13.
“When I touch the wall I have no idea what my time is. I just go off, my stroke out and my kick off the wall out, and even there I’m trying to be thinking in the ballpark where I am,” said Turbide, in the media area following his final. “So for me, knowing that was under a minute, it was great news.”
The class S/SB13 includes athletes who have the least severe visual impairment eligible for Paralympic sport. They have the highest visual acuity and/or a visual field of less than 20 degrees radius.
This was the fourth time in Turbide’s career that he finished the 100m backstroke in long course pools (50m) under one minute. Two of them happened at the Pan Am Sports Centre in Toronto.
“I always had great experiences at this pool, (which is) one of the fastest in the country,” said Turbide, who had his best moment in this facility four years ago.
In 2015, swimming in his second Parapan American Games, he collected six medals, including four golds, at the seven-day competition.
“We are trying to keep the good vibe going,” he said.
That 59.93 in the 100m backstroke final was an exclamation point after Turbide’s preliminaries Wednesday morning when he totalled the most points (811) overall after marking 1:00.77.
Boosted by another great day and still living his athletic prime, Turbide is looking forward to reach an unprecedented career accomplishment.
“For me, (my next challenge) it’s clearly to make the World Championship team this year. (It’s) the only international podium, a medal, that I haven’t been able to reach,” he said.
Turbide is aiming for a solid performance in what is likely to be his third IPC Swimming World Championship, an event currently without an announced location.
He was representing Canada in both Montreal (2013) and Glasgow, Scotland (2015), clocking 1:05.94 and 1:02.31 in the 100m backstroke, respectively.
Besides that, he also swam in the 100m butterfly and 400m freestyle on both occasions, with his best finish being seventh place.
“That (to get a medal in the World Championship) would be a great year goal to achieve,” Turbide said.
