A 17-year-old swimmer Chris Weeks from Kilbride won Newfoundland and Labrador’s first gold medal of the Canada Games this week by taking the top spot in the 50-meter butterfly, marking the first swimming gold for Newfoundland and Labrador since 1993.
Although Weeks started swimming competitively four years ago, he credits his aquatic success to his past in karate.
With his father, as his biggest supporter, Weeks says months of hard work, including getting up before dawn to head to the pool led to this week’s success, with his gold-medal win nabbing him a new Canada Games Record.
He beat the 2013 record set by an Ontario swimmer, who finished that race in 24.91 seconds when he swam 50-metre butterfly in 24.53 seconds.
Weeks has also taken home two silvers so far.
With his breaking a swimming record, Weeks joins athlete Jaida Lee, a Grade 11 student at Gonzaga High School in St. John’s in the history books for this year’s competition.
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