Alexander "Alec" Robert Elliot (born July 5, 1996) is a Canadian competitive Paralympic swimmer.

Early life

Elliot began swimming at the age of seven years old with the Region of Waterloo Swim Club. After swimming for a year, he took three years off and pursued his interest in minor soccer. At the age of 12, he decided to return to competitive swimming. Elliot was born with a congenital hand and foot impairment, called

Syndactyly Syndactyly is a condition wherein two or more digits are fused together. It occurs normally in some mammals, such as the siamang and diprotodontia, but is an unusual condition in humans. The term is from Greek σύν, ''syn'' 'together' and δά ...

, which qualified him for a

Para-swimming classification Para-swimming classification is a function-based classification system designed to allow for fair competition in disability swimming. The classes are prefixed with "S" for freestyle, butterfly and backstroke events, "SB" for breaststroke and "SM" ...

of S10, SB9 and SM10 disability classifications from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). With this international classification, obtained in 2014, he could compete for the Canadian National Para-Swim Team. His first international meet was the Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships competition, held in Pasadena, California.

Career

At these 2014 Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships games in Pasadena, Elliot obtained three medals; silver in both the 400m freestyle S10 and the 100m butterfly S10; bronze in the 100m breaststroke SB9. In 2015 Elliot competed at two major international competitions; the

2015 Parapan American Games The 2015 Parapan American Games, officially the V Parapan American Games and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 ParaPan-Am Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities, celebrated in the tradition of the Par ...

held in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

; and the

2015 IPC Swimming World Championships The 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships was an international swimming competition for athletes with a disability. It was held in Glasgow, United Kingdom and took place from 13 to 19 July. Around 580 athletes from around 70 countries competed at ...

held in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. At the Parapan American Games, he obtained five bronze medals in the 400m freestyle S10, 100m butterfly S10, 100m backstroke S10, 100m breaststroke SB9, and the 200m individual medley SM10. Elliot did not medal at the 2015 World Championships but did obtain five top-eight individual race finishes at the meet; 5th in the 100m backstroke S10, 6th in the 100m backstroke S10, and 7th place finishes in each of the 200m individual medley SM10 and the 100m freestyle S10. Additionally, Elliot contributed to two top-eight finishes for the Canadian relay teams; 5th place in the 4x100m medley relay and 6th place in the 4x100m freestyle relay. At the

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, fro ...

held in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, Elliot competed in six individual events and one team relay; however, he did not win any medals at the event. He made finals in three of the individual events placing him, 4th in the 100m butterfly S10, 7th in the 100M backstroke S10, and 8th in the 50m freestyle S10. The other individual events he competed in and his placings were: the 100m breaststroke SB9 (10th), 100m freestyle S10 (11th), and the 400m freestyle S10 (11th). The Canadian team placed 7th in the 34 point 4x100m medley relay which he was a team member of. That team set a Canadian record in the event. At the 2018 Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships in

Cairns, Queensland Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

, Australia, Elliot won three gold medals and one silver medal. Gold medals were won in the 100m backstroke S10, 100m butterfly S10, and the 200m individual medley SM10. The silver medal was in the 400m freestyle S10. At the

2019 World Para Swimming Championships The 2019 World Para Swimming Championships is the 2019 edition of the World Para Swimming Championships run by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The championships were held from February to June in seven countries across five continen ...

held in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, Elliot claimed his first career medal at worlds, bronze in the 400-m freestyle S10. He also reached the final in two other individual events, the 200m individual medley SM10 placing 4th and the 50m freestyle S10 placing 8th. Elliot hopes his performance at the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships will allow him to compete at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

, scheduled to held August 24th to September 5th 2021 in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan.

References

External links

* * * https://www.swimming.ca/en/swimmer/alexander-elliot/ * https://torontoobserver.ca/2019/09/11/canadas-elliot-fights-back-to-bronze-at-world-para-swim-championships/ * https://torontoobserver.ca/2019/09/10/alec-elliot-sets-personal-best-in-the-s10-200-metre-individual-medley/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Elliot, Alec Living people 1996 births Sportspeople from Kitchener, Ontario Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Paralympic swimmers for Canada Paralympic medalists in swimming Medalists at the 2015 Parapan American Games Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Canadian male freestyle swimmers Canadian male backstroke swimmers Canadian male breaststroke swimmers Canadian male butterfly swimmers Canadian male medley swimmers S10-classified para swimmers Swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Canada