PAST: Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»Dolphins Swim Club
PRESENT: U.B.C Aquatic Centre
FUTURE: NCAA Div. 1 University of California Golden Bears
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On a starry night in an outdoor pool two years ago, Noemie Thomas was kicking through the water to warm down after training with Canada’s national swim team. She was in Florida. It was dark out. And the 16-year-old was the fastest female butterfly sprinter in the country’s history.
Her two national records in the 50- and 100-metre butterfly came at the 2012 short-course world championships. She finished fourth in both races.
In that moment with a kickboard in her hands and the sky above her, Thomas found profound happiness in what she was doing.
“It was a special moment,” Thomas said earlier this week.
Now 18, Thomas was named Canada’s junior female swimmer of the year for 2013 and has committed to the Golden Bears of the NCAA Division 1 University of California in Berkeley.
But at the Canadian national trials in April, the meet that secures an athlete’s place on the team for the year, Thomas didn’t swim her best and didn’t make the cut — by fractions of a second. It was bad luck, said coach Tom Johnson.
“She bounced back really quickly,” said the Vancouver-based national coach. “She realized that good things happen by one 100th of a second and bad things by one 100th of a second. Everything leading up the competition indicated her preparation was really good.”
Ten days before the meet, Thomas rolled her ankle during a routine weight lifting move she’d done countless times. The injury meant she couldn’t power her typical intensity during training and her results were less than what she’s capable of. Swimming Canada sent her on a developmental competition tour in Europe, during which she recorded the 16th fastest 50m butterfly time in the world this year.
“In order to succeed and meet your goals, it’s not about working on most things until you get it. It’s about working on that thing so you don’t get it wrong,” said Thomas, who embraces hard work because she wants consistently faster results but packages her determination with an easy, friendly smile.
Johnson said Thomas will continue to improve if she’s challenged by her coaches. With the
PAC 10 Golden Bears, she will join one of the best collegiate programs in the U.S.
“She lives to race,” said Johnson. “She is wiling to work really hard swimming fast day in and day out. There are not a lot of kids who can tap in to that level of performance every day.”
Those days don’t happen by accident.
“When this goes wrong, that goes wrong, you have to find a way to do it,” Thomas said. “I like finding a way.”
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