PATH TO PARIS: A second chance in France for USask alum Ens

The 35-year-old graduate of the University of Saskatchewan (USask) will wear Canada’s colours once again in para-swimming this summer as the international sports spotlight shines on Paris for the 2024 Games.

“I am really looking forward to it so much,” said Ens, one of 20 para-swimmers – including three from the Saskatoon Lasers Swim Club – who were named to the Canadian Paralympic team in May. “It was pretty tense leading up to the national team trials, with some stiff competition. But now that the team has been selected, it’s kind of like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I can just totally focus on preparing for the Paralympics and on my performance in Paris.”

Ens competed in her first Paralympics in Tokyo in 2021, but despite posting personal best times in both of her races she just missed qualifying for the finals (top eight) with ninth-place finishes in the 50-metre backstroke S3 and the 100m freestyle S3 events.

“I really want to make the finals this time and see what happens,” said Ens, who qualified for the 2024 Paralympics at the national team trials in Toronto. “Training has been going well and I am pressing forward for my fastest times ever. So that is the focus and we will see how it works out.”

Unlike Tokyo, where the pandemic pushed back the Olympics and Paralympics by one year and spectators weren’t allowed, Ens will have plenty of support when she plunges into the pool in Paris. Her parents Rod and Monica will be there to watch her race, along with her Saskatoon club Paralympic teammates Hannah Ouellette and Shelby Newkirk – a fellow USask alumna – cheering her on, with her Saskatoon coach Ryan Jones also on the deck guiding her as a member of Canada’s coaching staff.

“It is so exciting to have my mom and dad there this time around,” said Ens, who graduated from USask in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology. “I am glad that my coach in Saskatoon Ryan Jones is also coming to coach at the Paralympics and also two of my teammates are coming, Shelby and Hannah. We all train together and we all made the team and we are all looking forward to representing Saskatoon and Canada. The community support is so inspiring, and hopefully it helps all three of us.”

Support from family and friends helped Ens recover – physically and emotionally – from the car accident in the winter of 2014 outside of her hometown of Meadow Lake that left her a C5 paraplegic, and could no longer move her legs. Prior to the accident, she had been a provincial high school shot put champion in 2006, spent a season with the USask Huskies track and field team, and was a lifeguard and a cyclist who rode her bike across the country in 2010 to raise money for Haitian earthquake victims. Four years later, the accident changed everything.

“It was devastating in so many ways,” said Ens. “I was always active. When I was at the university between years three and four, I cycled across Canada in 32 days and I was an avid rock and ice climber, so it was totally life-changing in terms of my goals and sports and athletics. It was totally devastating, and it was difficult to be a positive person. But my parents encouraged me to never give up and that was one of the lessons that I learned. Even if it seems like your life is over, it’s not. There is always something to cling to, and a strong light that shines.”

Ens’ return to competition first came on the track as a wheelchair athlete, where she excelled athletically but struggled mentally as she dealt with the ongoing trauma of her accident, and soon quit the sport.

“First after paralysis, I tried track and field, and I trained for a while with the Saskatoon Cyclones and I was medallist at the Canadian nationals, but the love wasn’t there for that sport,” said Ens, who is currently juggling a daily training schedule with working on a master’s degree in theological studies online.

“I was doing a lot of sitting on the coach for a while, but my parents encouraged me to not give up and one day my mom took me to the pool at the Shaw Centre in Saskatoon and there just happened to be a coach on deck with the Saskatoon Lasers and he was awesome. He got into the water with me and made sure that every muscle that could still function was used in my stroke. He helped me get a really efficient swimming technique down, and with the help of these experts, I started competing again.”

Ens has been making waves in the sport ever since, setting 10 Canadian records in the C3 category, and earning her first world para-swimming championship medal in 2022 when she finished second in the 200m freestyle S3 and also set a national record while finishing fourth in the 50m backstroke S3. Ens will compete in two events in the Paris Paralympics – the 100m freestyle S3 and the 50m backstroke S3 on Sept. 2-3 – and is just weeks away from heading overseas with her Canadian teammates to begin final preparations for the Paralympics that open on August 28.

“We head over mid-August and we train for a few weeks to get acclimatized in France,” said Ens, who earned a Sask Sport Inspire Through Sport Award in 2022 and was named the Sask Sport athlete of the month in January of 2023 after winning six events and twice breaking Canadian records at a para-swimming competition in Vancouver. “It is almost here and we are all really looking forward to it. I can’t wait.”