Wes Musial

Wes Musial cannot say enough for Masters swimming.

A member of the Polish national swim team from 1974-77, Musial had hung up his goggles and swimsuit for nearly 20 years. He immigrated to Canada in 1990 and discovered Masters in 1996. Swimming has enhanced his life and his swimming skills have made him a member of very select group of Masters. This past June Musial became the third swimmer to reach the million-metre milestone in Masters Swimming Canada’s Million Metre Challenge.

Musial loves the Challenge. “It has had a fantastic response. It’s one of the best initiatives in MSC. It keeps you honest when you swim.”

For an immigrant, Masters was a godsend. “There are a lot of great people with the same interests.” Being an immigrant is difficult with no family or childhood friends nearby. Masters helped him adjust to life in Canada. “As an immigrant I probably would not have met so many people and seen the country” without Masters, he says.

Musial, who works for Hewlett Packard, trains every day and averages at least 30 kilometres per week. Sometimes he swims 45 kilometres in a week. As well, he coaches the Trillium Y Masters in Toronto. Even in the lazy days of summer, he was logging 20 kilometres per week. Still, for Musial, mileage is secondary. “It’s the quality of the swim” that matters but “most swimmers, if they want to be good, have to swim a lot.”

In September, Musial balanced quality with quantity and set a course record in the men’s 45-49 age group at the Ontario Open Water 5 K championship. He finished in 1 hour 11 minutes. Many swimmers found conditions chilly at the St. Mary’s Quarry near London. “The water was okay. All those doughnuts I eat paid off,” he laughs. “I can’t resist.”

As well, Musial won the men’s 200m backstroke at the world championships in August in California. He swims a personal best time of 2:12 short course and 2:18 long course.

These are his best times ever, even though he used to swim backstroke in Poland. He remains surprised at his improvements but thinks his training conditions were not good when he was younger.

He is “aging up” this season into the men’s 50-54 age group. He wants to improve upon the 2:12 because he thinks he could go faster with some refinements. He dissects the race: his start could be better, his legs stronger, and he could lose some weight.

“I think I have this in me. I still have things to improve.”