By Earl Zukerman
Sarah Mehain, a McGill swimmer from Vernon, B.C., won three gold medals on Friday at the 2015 U.S. Paralympics Swimming Open competition. The wins brought her tally to four gold for the meet.
Mehain posted victories in the women’s 200-metre individual medley, 100 backstroke and 50 freestyle in the S7 disability category. A third-year Arts & Science student, Mehain is majoring in sustainability science and sociology.
Mehain won bronze in the 50-metre butterfly at the 2015 International Paralympic Committee world swimming championships in Glasgow earlier this year.
She also competed at for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London and reached the final in four of her six events. She placed sixth in the 50-metre butterfly and seventh in three other events, namely the 50m freestyle, 100m breaststroke and 200m individual medley. Her time in the breaststroke was a Canadian record and she bettered her personal best IM time by six seconds.
Mehain has a congenital condition called hemiplegia. It results in one side of her body being weaker than the other, and not as coordinated.