Meadow Liversuch, Dallas Walker-Milan and Lydianna O’Neil at the national championships awards banquet.
Dallas Walker-Milan put her planned retirement from life-saving sport on hold during the pandemic, and it paid off for the Fort Macleod athlete.
The 32-year-old Walker-Milan will make her third appearance at the world championships next September in Italy on her eighth tour with the Canadian team.
Walker-Milan, along with Claresholm residents Meadow Liversuch and Lydianna O’Neil were named to the Canadian team following the national championships.
“It was so exciting,” Walker-Milan said. “We don’t get to find out until the competition is over so it’s a bit of a stressful weekend. Each time I get named is no less exciting than the last and I always have big goals going into these tours.”
Walker-Milan, Liversuch and O’Neil competed in the lifesaving sport nationals June 3-5 at Fort McMurray.
It was the first competition since 2019, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation of events and the closure of swimming pools.
Walker-Milan was supposed to attend the world championships in September 2020 but that was cancelled.
“Personally my training was very much impacted, especially with the pools getting closed down,” Walker-Milan said. “I was out of the pool for up to a year at one point, which allowed me to focus on the little things with my body and some of my weak points.”
“I was pushed to upgrade my home gym and head outside for runs and training sessions, which I wouldn’t say was a bad thing at all. I am used to doing the majority of my training on my own and create my own training plan so fortunately it wasn’t a struggle to adapt to this kind of training.”
The five foot 10, 160-pound Walker-Milan had planned to retire from the sport following the world championships in 2020, which were also scheduled for Italy.
She wasn’t planning on attending the national championships at Fort McMurray until about a month prior to the event, but decided to give it a go.
Walker-Milan competed in all but one event at nationals, hitting the pool for 200-m obstacle swim, 100-m tow with fins, 100-m carry with fins, 50-m manikin carry, 200-m super lifesaver, 4×50-m medley relay, 4×25-m manikin relay, 4×50-m obstacle relay, and line throw.
Waker-Milan won the 100-m carry with fins in a time of 103.84 and the 50-m manikin carry in 44.11. The relay team placed first in all three races.
Walker-Milan was second in line throw and 10-m tow with fins and fourth in both 200-m obstacle and 200-m super lifesaver events.
“Unfortunately these results were not any personal bests, however I did not plan on getting any best times at this event as my training was not where it needed to be,” Walker-Milan said. “I used this competition to see where I am at in regards to my training and fundamentals and how I can improve on these for Italy.”
“Although I would like to have performed better, I am taking it as an opportunity to improve on my training and dial-in the specific goals of my training for Italy.”
Milan-Walker was proud to see how well Liversuch and O’Neill performed at nationals. She coached the Claresholm athletes at one time and has mentored them.
“I felt more excitement when they got named than when I heard my name,” Walker-Milan said. “I just know how much they were wanting to be named on this team and how much work they have put into it so it was such a wonderful feeling.”
The Canadian coaches are still deciding which events Walker-Milan will compete in at the world championships, but she expects it will be 100-m tow with fins, 100-m carry with fins, 50-m manikin carry and 200-m obstacle as well as the 90-m beach sprint and beach flags.
The athletes do not receive funding and must raise about $4,500 apiece for the trip to Italy. Walker-Milan, Liversuch and O’Neil are planning some joint fund-raising and looking for individual sponsorship.
Anyone interested in donating to Walker-Milan’s fund-raising can contact her at dallas.walker@hotmail.com.
Dallas Walker-Milan has anther mission when it comes to lifesaving sport.
“I want people to know about the sport so that this sport can grow and become large in Canada,” Walker-Milan said. “It starts off as junior lifeguard club at your local pool — including Fort Macleod this summer — and eventually turns into lifesaving sport.”
“You get to go to some larger competitions. It’s the only humanitarian-based sport out there where the basis is water rescue, which means you’re not only learning how to swim but you’re learning how to help someone and how to give back to the community.”
“I’m hoping that if anyone is interested in this sport or have any questions that they will reach out to me so I can facilitate the growth of this sport and continue to give back to my community in different ways.”
