By Jim Morris

The quiet relief Tess Routliffe felt after winning three medals, including one gold, at last year’s World Para Swimming Championships is being replaced by anticipation as she prepares for a repeat performance this summer.

Routliffe earned her first world title at Madeira 2022 with a win in the 100-metre breaststroke SB7. She also took silver in the 200 individual medley SM7 and bronze in the 50 butterfly S7.

The three trips to the podium came a year after the 24-year-old from Caledon, Ont. – who trains at the High Performance Centre – Quebec in Montreal – had broken her back, an injury which caused her to miss the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

While pleased with her performance in Portugal, Routliffe didn’t experience the excitement or exhilaration many would expect. Instead there was a sense of accomplishment after missing three years of racing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and recovering from her injury.

“I feel like it was really just a moment of relief,” said Routliffe, who was born with hypochondroplasia, a condition which affects the conversion of cartilage into bone, causing shortened limbs. “It was basically three years of me not getting to do what I love. I was just waiting for the moment to make it happen.”

The medals Routliffe won represented more to her than where she finished in a specific race.

“I think it proved the growth that had happened over the past couple of years,” she said. “Just being able to achieve that for myself after the heartbreaking, really hard year before. It just put a really different perspective on it.

“I was really happy with that.”

After facing a lot of questions last year, Routliffe hopes to bring plenty of answers to this summer world championships being held in Manchester, England, from July 31 to Aug. 6.

“The last world championships there was a lot of pressure on myself, it was still a really big question mark,” she said.  “The people around me, coaches and staff, I don’t think they had huge expectations, they were just wanting to see me race.

“This world championships is going to be very fun. I’ll have the pressure and the excitement of racing again. It is a less of a question mark.”

Routliffe earned a silver medal in the 200-m IM at the Rio 2016 Paralympics Games. She was in the weight room training for the delayed Tokyo Paralympics when a 37-kilogram bar fell on her back, breaking her spine at the L1 vertebra, which helps control movement to your hip muscles.

The accident happened a little over two months before the Games Paralympics.

Doctors told her she was lucky, because if the spine had shattered there was a chance she could have been left paralyzed.

“My brain didn’t even go to am I going to be able to walk again, am I going to be able to do everyday activities,” said Routliffe. “My brain went straight to Tokyo.”

Still hoping to compete at the Paralympics, Routliffe threw herself into rehab.

She was walking two days after surgery but for two weeks was severely limited in her movement. No bending or twisting. She couldn’t pick up anything.

Three weeks later Routliffe was back in the water but “I had to do it in a very floaty way” because she couldn’t make any turns.

In six weeks she could make turns.

“It was a lot of pain,” said Routliffe. “There were a lot of muscles I hadn’t used in six weeks.

“We were still trying to see if we could go to Tokyo, but I realized that was not going to happen.”

The support Routliffe received from her family was crucial in her recovery. She heaped special praise on sisters Erin, a professional tennis player, and Tara, who attended a U.S. university on a volleyball scholarship.

“My sisters were the biggest supporters,” said Routliffe. “They had to be my nurses for six weeks.

“They will make fun of me for the rest of my life and I’m forever grateful for them.”

Even while dealing with the pain from her injury and the frustration of missing the Paralympics, Routliffe never considered retiring from swimming.

“I still had the same goals,” she said. “I was ready to move on, get to the next thing.

“I think that’s what made worlds that peaceful. I was just so ready for it.”

Coach Jean-Michel Lavallière admired the fight Routliffe showed.

“It’s a testament to her,” said Lavallière, a former Para swimmer who competed at Rio 2016.  “She’s a tough cookie.

“It was an uphill battle. Last year was mostly trying to recover and find our footing and knowing what we can do.”

With the Paris 2024 Paralympics about 13 months away, the competition at this year’s world championships will be ratcheted up.

“Everyone is getting ready, everyone needs to see where people are standing and where your ranking is,” said Routliffe. “It’s really thrilling because it is the games before the games.”

Lavallière, who was appointed HPC-Quebec head coach last fall, said the strategy for this year has changed from just being happy to be there to building for Paris.

“I think it was a surprise for all of us to see her perform that well,” he said. “I think she still has a lot of room for improvement in a lot of things.

“She can still surprise a lot of people, myself included, over the next year or so with what she can do.”

The last year has made Routliffe reconsider her career plans.

“If you asked me two years ago, the answer would be I’m done after Paris,” she said. “I would have said I don’t think there’s any way I can do another four years.

“But the answer is now, I can see myself doing another four years.”