If Danica Ludlow makes the grade to swim in the Olympic pool next year in Rio de Janeiro, her folks back home in Prince George will have some travel plans to consider.
Encouraged by her medal results two weekends ago at the senior national meet in Pointe Claire, Que., Ludlow is hoping to be on a fast track to make the Olympic team for 2016. At nationals, she won the 400-metre freestyle in four minutes 14.86 seconds, just a second off her personal best. She also took silver in the 200 freestyle in 2:01.21 and helped her B.C. team to a fourth-place finish in the 4 X 200m relay.
"I would have liked to be faster in both my (individual) races but I'm pretty happy with how I came out of the meet," said Ludlow, a former member of the Prince George Barracudas swim club. "I was really working on staying calm the whole meet and that worked really well. It's something I really need to work on at the bigger meets like the (Olympic) trials. It'll be my second one so I'm not a newbie but it's still exciting."
She made finals at senior trials in April in the 200 and 400 freestyle but was out for better. A top-two finish was needed to crack the senior national roster for the Pan Am Games team.
"It gets more complicated for the Olympics next year, you have FINA A standards (a top-16 world time) and there's a certain time you have to be under to make the Olympic team and they can qualify one or two people if they are under that time and that's what we're all training for," said Ludlow.
Now training at Swimming Canada's High Performance Training Centre in Victoria as a member of the Island Swimming Club, Ludlow dedicated her 400 freestyle win to the memory of national team coach Randy Bennett, who died of cancer in April. Ludlow, who will soon turn 19, trained with Bennett for one-and-a-half years after she moved to Victoria at age 17.
"I was very lucky to get the opportunity to train with Randy, he did a lot in his time in the swimming community and we were lucky to have him," said Ludlow. "He taught me a lot in such a short time. He's a big part of the reason I'm still swimming today."
Ludlow was born in Sydney, Australia, and lived there until she moved to Prince George when she was 11. She trained for six years with the Barracudas, developing under coaches Jerzy Partyka and Jason Smith.
"It's a bit of a difference coming to the high performance centre - I was swimming a lot more for fun in Prince George and now I'm swimming with a bunch of Olympians and it's a job now," said Ludlow. "I see how hard they train and the fast times they put up in training and I want to work harder. (Olympic medalist) Ryan Cochrane is always there to help me when I need it and he's given me some good advice over the last two years. He just got back from getting two medals at worlds and he's a very tough trainer and tough competitor."
When she's in the thick of her training regimen Ludlow swims two-hour sessions twice a day and has two hours of dryland training each day. She also does stretching and mobility exercises which add another two hours to her day. That doesn't leave much time for work away from the pool.
"My parents (Sharon and Jim) support me right now but if I can start making a couple teams there's a bit more money available, but it's an investment right now," she said.
Ludlow saw 15-year-old Hannah Esopenko of the Barracudas compete at the summer national meet and was impressed with how much she's improved.
"I know she went to Western Canada Games after that - I told her to have a lot of fun," said Ludlow. "I went to Western Canada Games in Kamloops four years ago (where she won two golds and a silver) and that was really where I started doing well in the sport. I just love the games environment, it's a pretty amazing experience, totally different than an individual sport."
Ludlow's favourite event is the 200 freestyle but she's also posting solid results in the 400 and 800 freestyle and plans to compete next season in backstroke events.
Ludlow took a year off school but is enrolled in a first-year sciences program this fall at UVic.
