Paralympics 2024: Will Canada’s Aurelie Rivard shine again in the 400m freestyle?

Paralympics 2024: Will Canada’s Aurelie Rivard shine again in the 400m freestyle?

Paralympics 2024: Will Canada’s Aurelie Rivard: Paralympic swimmer Aurélie Rivard excels? Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., native has 10 Paralympic medals, half of them gold. She added 19 world championship medals. Rivard holds four world records in S10, a category for least-impaired freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly swimmers. As Canada’s most decorated summer Paralympian, she could surpass both Petitclerc and Edgson, who have 21 medals each.

Rivard’s coach Marc-André Pelletier said, “She’s f—ing good.” However, one race, one discipline, has plagued Rivard. Rivard won silver in the 400 freestyle at her first Paralympics in 2012. She raised it to gold in 2016. To repeat as champion in 2021, she shattered her own world record. A hilarious thing happened at the 2022 World Championships in Portugal.

Rivard leads at 50m. She led 100 and 150 meters. Canada’s sole competitor was Hungary’s Bianka Pap, who reached the halfway mark one-tenth of a second behind Rivard. Rivard appeared strong. She even increased her lead to 250 meters. Then she stopped. Pap gained a quarter-length edge while Rivard gripped onto the wall like a child in a swimming lesson.

Finally, Rivard tried again. She dove back beneath, came up, took one stroke, stopped, leaning on the lane divider, and exited the pool. The play-by-play commentator thought Rivard drank water. Maybe it was a fluke. One year later, at World in England, it occurred again. No water was to blame this time. Rivard qualified for the final but withdrew before the race.

Rivard said he didn’t quit because he feared losing. My body wasn’t ready. I didn’t know what to expect and had that giant elephant-in-the-room mindset. Suppose it happens again? I’m not ready to repeat this.”
Thus, Canada’s top Para swimmer will face additional challenges in Paris 2024. Rivard, at least for the 400 free, will just have to answer ‘how.’

Canada's Aurelie Rivard

The green room—how will she feel? How can she kill that elephant in her head and clear her thoughts about swimming? Can she finish the 400-meter race and win a medal? Rivard answered those queries with another. “How much time do you have?” she asked about the 400 free. “It’s been difficult. People knew me from 400. That was my first London medal. My first self-imposed objective. So I thought, ‘Oh my God, maybe I might win a gold medal in an event.'”

I’ve worked hard on this race for a decade. I think I pushed it fairly far, but there’s little opportunity for improvement. Since I’ve won it so many times and it’s never easy, I have high standards.” On Thursday, Paris La Défense Arena hosts the women’s S10 400 freestyle heats and final.

Rivard’s main explanation for her 400 free troubles is that she demands so much from this race that any mistake makes her question herself even more.
When Pap threatened her crown in 2022, Rivard’s ego may have been interrupted—anything less than gold was intolerable.

“I can’t just do a 400 for fun. It never occurs. I have too many references and have done it too often. It’s a physically demanding race. She remarked it’s hard when I feel off. After the 2023 no-show, Rivard began seeing a sports psychologist to calm her mind. Since she hadn’t fully healed from her traumatic stoppage a year earlier, she regrets swimming in worlds so soon after 2022.

Rivard has not considered missing the Paralympics, but she has been slowly rebuilding her confidence. Rivard blamed the pandemic for a lack of racing preparation before 2022, with few competitive venues to test her.
She’s worked full-time for 18 months. She practices in Quebec City alongside her coach, Pelletier, Nicolas-Guy Turbide, and Katerine Savard, a two-time able-bodied world medalist.

Aurelie Rivard shine again in the 400m freestyle

Pelletier’s training group gives her Savard, who may challenge Rivard in the pool more than other Para competitors. I must simulate her competition experience. Racing against girls her level—he said—is the objective. Rivard dropped the 200 individual medley for Paris due to a knee ailment, leaving her with the 100 backstroke, 50, 100, and 400 free.

Freestyle is simpler than breaststroke, therefore Pelletier said the program simplifies training. As Rivard works with others on the mental side, Pelletier focuses on the pool. “For me here, it’s about knowing it’s there, but not acting like it was an issue,” he said. Each day brings tiny wins. Always difficult to ensure you have instruments to handle a scenario.”

Rivard won’t have much physical competition, according to Pelletier. “She’ll win if she wants to. She must be confident. He advised her to relax. Rivard knows. It’s me. I’m my biggest rival. I fear myself most in that race. I’ll beat myself. I don’t care about other girls.”

James