Langley-based swimmer Collyn Gagne captured a silver medal in the pool Tuesday, Oct 24 at the 400-metre Individual Medley event at the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile.
Gagne posted a personal best time of 4:17.05, behind Jay Litherland of the United States and ahead of Brandonn Almeida of Brazil.
“It feels pretty good to get my first international medal!” Gagne told the Olympic.ca website.
“The strategy was swimming to my strengths and not trying to race the competition, so much as swimming my own race and seeing how it unfolded, and I think I did that well.”
Gagne, originally from Milton Ontario, now resides in Langley and is currently part of the Langley Olympians Swim Club Elite Performance Group.
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His coach, Liam Donnelly, said Gagne “raced very successfully in a high pressure environment in Santiago, Chile. He had a clear race plan and performed it very well. The only swimmer who managed to finish ahead of Collyn was a 2012 Olympic medallist from the USA.”
Donnelly said he was looking forward “to an exciting year with the U.S. Open coming up in November, possibly a World Championship event in January, and trials for the Summer Olympics in mid-May.”
Gagne competed at his first World Aquatics Championships in 2022 where he finished 14th in the 400m IM.
At the 2022 Commonwealth Games he was a finalist in the 400m.He won the 400m IM at the 2021 Canadian Swimming Trials but did not qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
He won the 400m IM and finished second in the 200m IM at the 2022 Canadian Swimming Trials and finished second in the 400m IM and third in 200m IM at 2023 Trials.
Gagne graduated from Simon Fraser University in 2022 with an honours degree in economics.
While competing for SFU, he won the 2022 NCAA DII 400m IM title, setting a record in the event.
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