The year started strong last week for two young Montreal swimmers who narrowly avoided tragedy by rescuing a British man from drowning, in front of the cries of his helpless wife.
“We didn’t know how much time we had left. So we immediately [jetées à l’eau]”, recounted Zoe Meklensek-Ireland, 13, alongside Emma Bassermann, 14, at Barbados Today.
On Wednesday, the two teenagers, who were in Barbados in the Caribbean for a training camp for the Olympic trials, were about to ride a final wave on small boards called “bodyboards” when they would have heard cries for help from a woman, whose husband was struggling to get back to the bank.
“I know how to swim, but I couldn’t move forward at all. I wasn’t going anywhere,” South London-based Brit Robert Stone, with his wife, Belinda, told CTV News on Saturday.
Without a second to lose, the two young swimmers then rushed into the water with their boards in hand, to rescue the man in distress, after bringing his wife to safety.
“We put her husband on the bodyboard and I tied the strap to my ankle, and I took him back to shore, swimming parallel to the beach, until the current wasn’t as strong anymore,” she said. continued Zoe Meklensek-Ireland, whose father is a coach for the Dorval swimming club.
“He was having trouble breathing, so the first words we heard out of his mouth were when he hit the sand […] If we had been weaker swimmers, it could have been much more disastrous,” added Emma Bassermann, who trains 21 hours a week and is aiming for the 2028 Olympics.
As soon as they returned to dry land, the two teenagers were acclaimed for their heroic gesture.
“I really feel like we have a good guardian angel watching over us,” said a grateful Belinda, looking at her husband. “Maybe a [ange] Canadian,” he added in turn to CTV News.