Keira Toussaint moves from the United States to Spain. The 28-year-old backstroke specialist joins Canadian coach Ben Tetley’s training group in Catalonia. Last year, Toussaint left the National Training Center in Amsterdam, where she spent five successful years under current national coach Marc Fabre, and moved to the United States.
“I was ready for new stimuli. Actually, I was thinking that I would stay in America until the Olympics in Paris, but I thought it was too far from home,” Toussaint, the 2021 European champion in the 50m backstroke, said in NOS. “It wasn’t really my place.”
In recent weeks, she trained in Spain with the Tetley group, which includes Canadian Kylie Mass. Massey won the silver medal in the 100 meter backstroke at the Tokyo Olympics. Toussaint finished seventh in the Olympic final.
“We have known each other for years and we get along well,” said the Dutch record holder in the 50 and 100 meters backstroke. “Kylie is a very big competitor of mine. I think it’s good for me to train with her and be able to compete against her every day. Over the past few weeks I’ve been losing weight because of her. That’s a big motivation for me. I’m not big at swimming, but you see a lot of People are younger than me in swimming. I really want to set personal records and I firmly believe I can do it. PR in the Olympic final in Paris and then preferably on the podium, that would be very cool.”
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