Pike Lake diver Rylan Wiens qualifies for second career Olympic Games | Globalnews.ca
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Over the years, Rylan Wiens has stood atop hundreds of diving platforms spread across the world.
Standing with his toes hanging over the edge of an Olympic platform, however, is a different feeling entirely for the Pike Lake product.
“If I recall, definitely crapping my pants,” said Wiens. “Super, super nervous but also super, super excited.”
This summer, Wiens will get to experience that same feeling again as he will represent Canada at the Olympic Games for the second time in his young career.
Wiens is coming off a memorable week at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, where he earned a pair of fifth-place finishes in the men’s 10-metre platform and men’s 10-metre synchronized platform events.
Both of those results were good enough to punch Wiens’ ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics, who will be competing for Canada in the pair of disciplines.
“Honestly after my individual event I was speechless,” said Wiens. “I didn’t know what to say, it was a pretty cool experience and I’ve never had it before. Just to say that I’m going for both now, it’s pretty amazing.”
Wiens previously finished 19th in the men’s 10-metre platform event at the 2020 Tokyo Games, but will be making his Olympic synchronized debut alongside diving partner Nathan Zsombor-Murray.
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To get to this point, Wiens had to overcome serious back and neck injuries suffered last summer which kept him out of the pool for months.
“I’ve been working really hard since I got back from my back injury,” said Wiens. “It’s been a long road, it’s been hard, but I put the work in. I deserve to be there and I deserved everything that I got.”
This Olympic experience is expected to be quite different for the 22-year-old after competing in Tokyo surrounded by empty bleachers in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, he’ll get to experience what a true Olympic atmosphere is all about.
“Hearing that roar of the crowd when you hit the water after a good dive, it really gets you in that competition environment,” said Wiens. “It gets you pumped up, it gets you amped and ready to go. I’m really looking forward to having everyone there supporting me.”
Along with the pressures of trying to punch his ticket to Paris last week was the fact that several family members and friends had already committed to joining him at the Olympics, well before he officially qualified.
“My parents had booked tickets last summer, my grandma is coming, a whole bunch of family friends are already booked in to come, my brother is coming to watch me,” said Wiens. “There was a little bit of pressure because they had already booked their tickets.”
“They had to book so far in advance to be able to actually make it to the Games.”
Since returning from his injuries, Wiens has been one of the most consistent divers in the world with his top-five finishes last week and a silver medal won for Canada at the 2023 Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile.
Now qualified, Wiens said he has his sights firmly set on reaching the Olympic podium for the first time in France this summer.
“I know I can get that medal,” said Wiens. “It just comes down to putting the dives down, when I need to put them down.”
Wiens will be competing in a handful of events leading up to the Summer Olympics, while diving events will begin on July 27 in Paris.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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