SZCZECIN, Poland – Canadian Para swimmers captured a pair of silver medals at the 2022 Polish Winter Open which ran from Nov. 4-6 in Szczecin, Poland’s seventh largest city located in the country’s northwest.

Canada was represented at the event by Angela Marina of Cambridge, Ont., Emma Grace Van Dyk of Port Colborne, Ont., Montreal’s Colleen Cloëtta, Meghan Calhoun of Tara, Ont., as well as male teammate Hunter Helberg of Fort McMurray, Alta.

Marina, a Tokyo Paralympian who also competed at last summer’s Para Swimming World Championships in Portugal, claimed individual silver in the women’s 100-metre backstroke on Friday thanks to a time of 1:14.22.

On Sunday, the 23-year-old teamed up with Van Dyk, Cloëtta and Calhoun for a second-place finish in the women’s 4×50 freestyle relay (2:18.64).

All races at the long-course competition were multiclass timed finals, with medals awarded according to WPS points.

“I was impressed with how well they managed themselves throughout the meet,” said team coach Michel Bérubé, Swimming Canada’s NextGen & Pathways Coach, Para swimming. “We trained twice a day and did one small training session the morning of the meet and they all responded extremely well.”

“They were all able to be always in the moment. Being able to swim at 96 per cent-plus on the first week of November is definitely a confidence boost,” Bérubé added, referring to the number of races in which Canadian athletes were within five per cent of their personal best times.

Helberg, an 18-year-old S12 athlete, set personal bests in two of eight events, clocking 40.66 in the 50 breaststroke on Friday and 35.50 in the 50 back on Sunday. He finished first in his class in three races and top three in all eight.

Marina placed in the top five overall in all six of her individual events and finished among the top three in the S14 class in all six. In the 100 freestyle, she touched in 1:03.30, only 15 hundredths of a second off her PB.

Van Dyk, who also represented Canada at the 2022 Madeira Para worlds, was the third fastest S14 swimmer in three of six events. She was 11 hundredths shy of her career record in the 100 free.

The youngest member of the delegation at 17, Cloëtta topped the S7 class in the 200 individual medley and was second in the category in her four other events.

Calhoun, 19, was third in the S9 class in the 100 breast and was within half a second of her PB in the 50 breast.

COMPLETE RESULTS: http://live.livetiming.pl/jardzioch/2022/11_06_szczecin/index_us.html#

CANADIAN RESULTS: