At first glance, Samantha Ryan may seem like an average 17-year-old girl. Things change when she gets in the pool.
Ryan, a former Flin Flonner, is participating in this summer’s Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
As of Thursday, she had taken part in three events, breaking the Canadian Paralympic record in the women’s S10 100m butterfly.
The performance was enough to give Ryan a well-earned fifth place in an event in which she was one of the youngest competitors.
The record comes hot on the heels of Ryan’s silver medal win at last summer’s Parapan Am Games in Toronto. She won the medal in the 100m butterfly, the same event for which she now owns the Canadian record.
Ryan also won two bronze medals at the Pan Pacific Para-swimming Championships two years ago.
Ryan was born in the United Kingdom and moved to Flin Flon at age 3. She began swimming competitively at the Flin Flon Aqua Centre, and was a member of the Flin Flon Aqua Jets until moving to Saskatoon in 2010.
Ryan now attends high school in Saskatoon and swims with the Saskatoon Goldfins swimming club.
She has a condition called “foot drop,” a disorder in the nerves and muscles of the leg that limits a person’s ability to control their feet. The condition has Ryan is listed as a S10 swimmer, meaning she has “minimal physical impairments.”
Ryan has also taken part in the women’s S10 100m freestyle and S10 50m freestyle in Rio.
She is also a part of Canada’s 4x100m 34-point freestyle relay and 4x100m 34-point medley relay teams.
