Hilary learned to swim in her backyard pool and started swimming competitively at age six. It wasn’t long before she splashed onto the world stage from training at Saanich Commonwealth Place. Her accomplishments include: Bronze medals in the Women’s 200-Metre Backstroke at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and 2013 FINA World Aquatics Championships - where she set and broke the national record. She also won a Gold medal in the Women’s 200-Metre Backstroke at the 2015 Toronto Pan American Games and was a finalist at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
The sheer determination of Hilary and two-time Olympic medalist Ryan Cochrane kept Canadian swimming afloat for several years. She started her competitive swimming career in South Surrey and was largely unknown when she came across the strait to train with Randy Bennett at Saanich Commonwealth Place. She was so much a part of that golden era of swimming and now takes her rightful place next to Ryan Cochrane and Randy Bennett in the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame.
Coach Ryan Mallette guided her later career. “Hilary set the bar for hard work,” said Mallette. “She set the bar for what you can do if you put your mind to something. She was the standard the young kids could follow in terms of all those things.”
Ryan Cochrane |
Ryan Cochrane |
To say Ryan Cochrane made a splash would be one of the understatements of Canadian sport.The Victoria native is the most decorated Canadian swimmer in history.
On his retirement in 2017, Ryan finished his career with a Canadian record of 22 career international medals in the 400m, 800m and 1,500m freestyle events. That includes two medals in the Olympics, eight at the FINA World Championships, six at the Pan Pacific Championships, four Golds in the Commonwealth Games and two Golds in the Pan American Games. From 2008 through 2015, he was named Canadian Male Swimmer of the Year a startling eight times in a row.
The graduate of Claremont Secondary and the University of Victoria did plenty in his career to warrant his standing as an all-time Canadian great in the pool. Canada’s best current and future swimmers owe a debt of gratitude to Ryan Cochrane. On that point, there is little doubt. The two-time Olympic medallist had the willingness to put in the long, hard kilometre-after-kilometre training sessions in Saanich Commonwealth Place. That allowed him to perform with precision at all the big world events.
Ryan was among Canada's most reliable athletes, in any sport, during his 12-year international career. No small part of that was due to his coach and mentor Randy Bennett, who preceded Ryan into the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. This coach-swimmer tandem was recognized by Swimming Canada in 2008/2009 with the Dr. JenoTihanyi Memorial Bursary, awarded to aid in their further development towards excellence.
Before the six-medal outbreak for Canada in the pool at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, where he co-captained the team, it was Ryan Cochrane who almost singlehandedly kept Canadian swimming afloat through what were otherwise low years, representing Canada at three Olympic Games and six World Championships. His Bronze medal in the 1,500-metre freestyle was Canada's lone swimming medal at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and our first 1500-metre medal in 88 years. Ryan’s 1500-metre Silver at the London 2012 Olympics was one of only two Canadian pool medals.
In 2017, Swimming Canada honoured Ryan’s achievements by inducting him into the Circle of Excellence, where he joined such swimming legends as Alex Baumann and Mark Tewksbury. “At a time when Swimming Canada was rebuilding, it was Ryan Cochrane who stepped up and led by example, winning medals at multiple World Championships and Olympics,” says Tewksbury, a Canadian sport leader and 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics swimming Gold medallist.“There was much excitement by the performance of the Canadian swimming team at Rio 2016. But that momentum started with Ryan's medals at Beijing 2008 and London 2012.”
Ryan Cochrane’s legacy in pools around the world – which all started at Saanich Commonwealth Place – will not soon be forgotten.
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