DAYTONA, FLORIDA – Rescue 2002, the first World Lifesaving Championship staged on north American soil (and water) since Rescue ’86 in Vancouver, was another international tournament of highs and lows for our Canadian National Team. Once again, National Team veterans Adam Nicholson, John Eddolls, Jeff Arthurs, Shannon Bell, Jason Cross, Tristan Conn and Sonia Paquette led the way; and once again, lifesaving powerhouses such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa outclassed the rest of the field, including the host Americans.

Canada, who to the surprise of many, finished 7th in Ocean events at the 2000 World Championships, once again flexed their muscles on the beach and in the surf, placing 9th in ocean events with solid races from several team members including Mike Zitta, a Canadian citizen who works with the L.A. County Lifeguard Service, and Nova Scotian and National Team Captain, Jason Cross.

Zitta, a first year national team member, took 10th in the men’s surf race (ocean swim) while Cross, Canada’s most experienced competitor, was a key contributor in several relay events including the board and tube rescue races.

Overall, Canada finished 11th, a one place improvement from their 12th place overall finish at Rescue 2000, the World Championships in Sydney, Australia.

With all three Canadian medallists from the previous world championship once again competing, Canada looked poised to match or even topple the previous medal count high of five. Some narrow misses and some unfortunate luck resulted in less medals, but national team coach Steve Box was still very please with the team’s results.

“Canada had more athletes qualify for finals and consolation finals than at Rescue 2000, in fact, the majority of the swims in both preliminaries and finals were best times,” said Box.

“At lot of the athletes’ times, including relays were new Canadian records. Overall we were very pleased with the athletes individual and team event performances.“

Adam Nicholson, a national team member since 2000 and holder of several Canadian records in pool events, once again had a stellar outing, solidifying himself as a world class stillwater competitor.

Nicholson, a bronze medal winner at Rescue 2000, successfully broke two of his own records in the pool. Unfortunately, Nicholson was not able to set a record in the event he has had the most success at, the 200m Super Lifesaver (known as the ironguard at the Canadian Championship).

“While Adam Nicholson finished 4th in this event (the 200m Super Lifesaver), it was unfortunately one of the few times at these games that he did not swim a best time,” noted coach Box. “His best time would have put him in the top three and this of course would have translated into another medal for Canada.”

Although Nicholson would have liked to have been on the podium, he was still very pleased with his results.

“I am not disappointed in my results is because of the quality of athletes this year,” he said. “Compared to Rescue 2000, the athletes are incredibly faster. Most world records were broken, and the field was much stronger, making it harder to qualify for finals.”

Canada’s only gold was earned by Sonia Paquette of Belle Feuille, Quebec, who won the women’s beach sprint event. For Paquette, the medal was her third at World Championships. Paquette previously earned two bronze medals at Rescue 2000, one in beach flags and the other in the beach sprint. In the pool, Jason Cross, John Eddolls, Jeff Arthurs and Adam Nicholson teamed to win bronze in the Simulated Emergency Response event, the only judged event of the competition.

For many of our national team members, Rescue 2002 was a successful event, however, it encouraged many to continue working hard to improving our country’s results on the world stage.

“It was a difficult competition being the first time racing in the ocean almost a year,” commented Shannon Bell of Vancouver BC. “With more practice as a team there is great potential.”

Many Canadian lifesavers will concur with Bell. As a country with 4 seasons, our athletes are at a distinct disadvantage as training in the surf cannot be a year round activity. There is, however, much optimism when looking at other countries with similar climates. To be competitive with Southern hemisphere countries such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, European countries have relied on success in pool events.

“The speed with which the Europeans have progressed in the pool has served as a wake up call to those countries which have traditionally been dominate in the surf: South Africa, New Zealand and of course Australia.,” noted coach Box. “Clearly these countries have been effective in rising to the challenge and vastly improvement their recruitment abilities and techniques.”

To aspiring athletes, Box offers the following advice:

“If you have the desire to participate in a sport which has the potential to change not only your life but many of the lives you come into contact with and the internal drive and belief that you can contribute to Canada's ascension to the top of the lifesaving world then you need to get yourself hooked into this sport ASAP.”