Tokyo olympic medalist Kayla Sanchez prepares for 2024 Paris competition
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
FILIPINO-Canadian swimmer Kayla Sanchez, who left the Canadian team and chose to represent the Philippines in 2024 Paris Olympics, is now being trained by a renowned swimming coach.
Swiss coach Luka Gabrilo is back in the Philippines to personally oversee the training and progress of Sanchez who will first compete in the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, this July 14-30, according to a report by manilastandard.net.
The 21-year-old swimmer born in Singapore to Filipino parents has represented Canada as a member of the senior national team since 2017 and has made a name for herself in the international swimming community while competing and winning medals both as a junior and senior swimmer.
She was released by Swimming Canada last June 25, 2022 and was officially welcomed by Philippine Swimming, Inc. (PSI) on July 7, 2022.
Sanchez grew up in Ontario from age 2 when her family migrated to Canada. She learned to swim at age 4 and started swimming competitively at age 8.
Sanchez, whose father Noel hails from Mabalacat, Pampanga, and mother Susana from Baguio, has always been proud of her Filipino roots and hopes to inspire others to take up the sport.
“I’ve always been really proud of my Filipino heritage,” she told Swimming Canada in a report.
“Aside from how much I’ve grown and how good everything has been in Canada, I needed to make this really difficult decision for myself and my family to take this opportunity to represent the Philippines. I want to help inspire people that are like me to swim and get into the sport,” the report added.
She won two medals for Canada in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
She also bagged two silver medals in the women’s 4x100m freestyle and mixed 4x100m freestyle relays and a pair of bronzes in the 4x 200m free and 4x 100m medley relays during the Fina World Championships in Budapest, Hungary in 2022.
It was in 1928 when Teofilo E. Yldelfonso won for the Philippines its first Olympic medal by bagging the bronze in the 200 m breaststroke event in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In 1932, he won another bronze in Los Angeles.
Last month, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol’’ Tolentino promised that Sanchez will enjoy the same template of success being applied to Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo and Europe-based world No. 3 pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena as the POC will assign a team composed of a nutritionist, sports psychologist and physiotherapist apart from her coaches.
“We plan to surround her (Sanchez) with a team of experts, just like what we did for [Olympic gold medalist] Hidilyn Diaz [-Naranjo],’’ Tolentino said in a Philippine Daily Inquirer Report.
Sanchez is currently complying with the one-year residency requirement in the country she will represent and is preparing for the Japan competition.
Gabrilo, who was the former Head Coach of the Israeli Swimming Team, shared, “I’m very happy to be back in the Philippines. It is a great opportunity that PSI continues the work it started at the beginning of the season.”
As coach for the Israeli team since 2017, Gabrilo oversaw the country’s top swimmers when Anastasia Gorbenko made history by becoming the first Israeli woman to win a continental title with gold in the 200IM European Championships in Budapest.