Sask. athletes reflect on Paralympic Games in Tokyo

Saskatchewan's athletes are back from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics Games, which ended on Sept. 5, and many are already planning ahead for the next Games in three years. 

A total of eight athletes, four coaches, two support staff, four officials and two classifiers headed to the Games from Saskatchewan, according to the Canadian Sport Centre Saskatchewan. 

On the first day of competition, Keely Shaw was not only the first athlete to represent Saskatchewan at this year's Paralympics, she also won Canada's very first medal of the Games.

The 27-year-old Canadian track cyclist raced to bronze in the women's C4 3,000-metre individual pursuit.

"It is so incredible," Shaw said in an interview with The Afternoon Edition shortly after her success.

"To see the whole country rallying together behind me and having everybody celebrate this accomplishment is a feeling that I don't know if I'll ever get to experience again."

The cyclist — originally from Midale, Sask., now in Saskatoon — had her Paralympic debut in Tokyo.

Disappointed after her qualifying race, Shaw was able "to bring it back and put on a show" for the bronze medal race.

"I'm nothing short of incredibly proud," she said. "It's been a long five years."

Para swimmers break Canadian records

Swimmer Shelby Newkirk from Saskatoon came very close to a medal at her first Paralympic Games.

The Saskatoon athlete placed fourth in the S6 100-metre backstroke final, less than a second away from the podium.

Despite the initial disappointment after her final race, the 25-year-old is proud of her overall performance at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

"I put it all out there, and I know in my heart that I literally had nothing else to give," said Newkirk.

With the one-year postponement of the Games and her disability being progressive, the Saskatoon woman wasn't sure how she would do in the pool, she said.

"Every time I got in the water, I broke a Canadian record, which is really cool."

Besides her time in the pool, there was another important moment for Newkirk at the Games, she said: realizing that, as a person with a disability, she wasn't in the minority anymore.

"We don't have to worry about people staring at us," said Newkirk, who felt a "true sense of belonging" at the Paralympics.

Back in Saskatoon, the Canadian record holder is already planning ahead for the World Championships in June next year, she said. 

Newkirk's teammate from the Saskatoon Lasers Swim Club, Nikita Ens, also competed in Tokyo and set a new Canadian record in the SM4 150-metre individual medley.

2 Sask. players part of Canada's wheelchair basketball team

After landing in Toronto just a week ago, Paralympian Nik Goncin was already on the move again on Sunday when he spoke with CBC News, driving all the way from Ontario to his new home in Alberta.

The Regina wheelchair basketball player competed at his second Paralympic Games this summer.

After placing 11th in Rio, the Canadian team finished eighth in Tokyo.

"I am pretty happy with how it went," said Goncin.

Thanks to the improvement from the 2016 Paralympic Games, the 29-year-old said the team "is moving up."

"That's how we left feeling, regardless of the result."

In its quarter-final game against Great Britain, the Canadian team was unable to pull off an upset and lost against the Rio 2016 bronze medallists 52 to 66. 

"We could have been easily top four," said Goncin.

Despite the missing fans, Goncin said the Games were a great experience, especially because he wasn't the only Sask. player on the basketball court.

"I met Garrett when he was just a little kid," said Goncin about fellow Regina player Garrett Ostepchuk, who made his Paralympic debut this summer.

"If you had told me that this kid was going to be playing at the Paralympics in Tokyo with me, I wouldn't have believed you."

The two wheelchair basketball players have "a special connection," said Goncin.

"Definitely a big brother, little brother vibe."

Julie Kozun was another Saskatchewan athlete competing in a team sport in Tokyo. The University of Saskatchewan student placed fourth with the Canadian women's sitting volleyball team.

Wheelchair fencer back on combine after returning to Sask.

Within a week of returning from Tokyo at the end of August, wheelchair fencer Ryan Rousell was back on the combine to help with harvest at his family's farm in Asquith, Sask.

"I was hoping I could do better than I did," said the 24-year-old about his first Paralympic debut.

Rousell competed in both the men's individual class A sabre and épée events but wasn't able to advance to the next rounds.

"I got very much caught up in the whole atmosphere of the entire event," he said. "Just  the intensity of it.… I think that's what kind of threw me off a bit."

Despite the athletic results, it was an awesome experience, said the athlete, who lives in Saskatoon.

"I'm already in the process of getting ready to go again."

Wheelchair racer Jessica Frotten, completing the Saskatchewan team of athletes in Tokyo, placed eighth in the T53 400 metre race final. The Regina resident is originally from Whitehorse.