Competing in her first worlds at age 16, Jewell was one of the youngest out of the 35 swimmers but still managed to finish less than one minute, 30 seconds behind world champ Eva Fabian of the U.S. in a time of 1:03:22.59.
“I was pretty hung up on my start and although it went well, I probably overworked it,” Jewell said in a Swim Canada press release. “The second lap ended up getting pretty rough. Still it was a very good experience.”
The water temperature on Lac St-Lean was a cold 19 C, but the Gatineau Phénix swim club athlete wasn’t bothered since she’d had other races such as the qualifying meet in early June where it was worse.
“I thought the water was actually pretty warm – I’ve been in colder,” Jewell added. “The biggest challenge for me was keeping up with the pack. I didn’t know what to expect. I just adjusted as I swam.”
Jewell won’t get much of a break after her biggest competition to date – she’ll be in Victoria, B.C. for the senior national championships 10 km open water race on Aug. 1, which serves as a qualifier for the Pan Pacific Championships.
