It was a big weekend for Émilia Mastromatteo at the Manitoba-Saskatchewan Provincial Swimming Championships in Winnipeg last weekend.
The Kenora product walked away with three gold medals, two silvers, and a bronze medal, which qualified her for her first Commonwealth Game trails April 5-10, 2022, in Victoria, BC.
“I’m really pleased with my performance in Winnipeg,” said Mastromatteo. “I had to go into this meet not rested cause I have Canadian Swimming Trails coming up in two weeks. It was going to be a tired me but I was able to push through and I managed to perform still and swim some best times.”
Mastromatteo said it was an amazing feeling swimming against one of her swimming idols.
“For my 100m Breaststroke, I raced beside a Canadian Olympian Kelsey Wog. It was an amazing experience to race beside not only my idol but someone who is just an amazing athlete and swimmer.”
Kenora Swimming Sharks coach, Janet Hyslop says Émilia’s plan going into her first long-course meet since COVID-19 was to just swim.
“To continue to train quite hard actually,” said Hyslop “She did exceptionally well. Her times were all best times so despite being tired and not ready to swim fast, she ended up swimming quite fast.”
Hyslop added that qualifying for the Commonwealth Games has been a goal of hers for a while.
“A shoulder injury and then COVID really put things on hold for her. Despite all of that she’s been able to find a way to come back, find a way to do what she needed to do to reach those goals. From a coaching perspective I could not be any more proud of the perseverance and the dedication, and the commitment to her goals.”
Mastromatteo competed in the 200m Fly, 50m Breaststroke, 200m Backstroke, 100m Breaststroke, 50m Backstroke, 100m Backstroke, and the 200m Breaststroke.