Two athletes who call Dartmouth home heading to Paris Olympics

CITYnews halifax / By Natasha O’Neill

Riley Melanson and Connor Fitzpatrick of Dartmouth, N.S., will be competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics in just over a month.

The two athletes are of 13 canoe/kayak sprinters that will represent Canada. The hopefuls competed in trials held at the Montreal Olympic Basin over the weekend.

It will be Fitzpatrick’s second Olympics after he competed in the Tokyo 2020 Games in the C-2 1000 metre A final, placing sixth overall.

This time he will compete in the men’s C-1 1000 metre.

The 25-year-old first represented Canada in 2015 at trials in Poland. Placing fourth in the competition, just shy of the Olympics, he went on to represent the country in the World Junior Championships for multiple years.

“Paddling” has been a part of Fitzpatrick’s life since he was 12 years old, his bio on the Team Canada website reads. At 15, he started taking the sport seriously and joined friends in the hockey off-season. Having watched veteran athletes from his club represent Canada, he found a goal to strive for.

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Paris 2024 will be Melanson’s first Olympics, as she looks to compete with three other women in the K-4 500 metre sprint.

The 25-year-old debuted in the Canoe Sprint World Championships in 2021 where she was a semifinalist in the women’s K-2 500 metre.

Along with Ottawa’s Toshka Besharah-Hrebacka, Natalie Davison and Pickering, Ont.’s, Courtney Stott, the foursome secured a spot in the women’s K-4 500 metre for the Olympics.

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