Canadian Paralympian Danielle Dorris secured Canada’s initial medal at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships by clinching the silver in the women’s 50-meter S5-7 final in Walnut, California. Hailing from Moncton, New Brunswick, Dorris led from start to finish, touching the wall in 34.42 seconds, just shy of her S7 world record of 32.99.
Despite Dorris’ impressive performance, the gold medal was awarded to Katie Kubiak of the United States, who accumulated 1060 points compared to Dorris’ 941. Kubiak set a new world record for S5 in the morning preliminaries with a time of 37.21, nearly a second faster than her previous record. Dorris’ teammate, Mallory Weggemann, secured the bronze with 926 points.
The competition uses a unique scoring system where winners are determined by a points formula rather than race placement. Points are allocated based on how close a swimmer’s time is to the world record standard for their specific classification.
Dorris, who will celebrate her 24th birthday on September 22, was born with bilateral radial dysplasia, resulting in underdeveloped arms. At the previous World Para championships in Singapore, she achieved a remarkable feat by winning medals of every color in the S7 category, including a gold in the 50 butterfly.
In the men’s 50m S5-7 final, Toronto’s Sebastian Massabie secured the bronze with 837 points, following Japan’s Eigo Tanaka and Brazil’s Samuel de Oliveira. Massabie, the S4 Olympic champion in 2024, set multiple Canadian and world records at the Paralympic swimming trials that year. Residing in Surrey, British Columbia, Massabie battles cerebral palsy, affecting his left side.
