Riverina swimmer ready to take on the world at Paralympics

The swimming squad, which finalised its Queensland training regime at a camp in Cairns, left for Japan on Wednesday.

Van Rijswick, 20, a Wagga Swim Club member who hails from Tumut, will compete in the S14 100m breaststroke and the S14 200m individual medley at her debut Paralympics.

After just missing out on automatic qualification for the team at trials, Van Rijswijk was later elevated to the team based on consistently strong times.

The Dolphins' team debutants were presented with their gold caps last week.

"That was super exciting, and made it feel even more real than it already is," Van Rijswijk said.

"I'm feeling a bit of everything, but mostly excited.

"Getting in a team environment up here makes you feel more ready for Tokyo. My goal is hopefully standing on the podium (for her pet 100m breaststroke event) and to make the final in the 200 individual medley would be really good."

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Jon Bell, a Dolphins team coach who has overseen Van Rijswijk's lead-up training as part of his group, is confident she has ticked every box to compete at her peak.

"She's been training really well, we've been doing a lot of preparation in particular for the 100m breaststroke. She's sitting really well in the water and we're really happy with her progress so far," he said.

"We're looking forward to taking all the hard work and preparation into racing. We like to use the term in camp 'flicking the switch', we're there to race.

"The 100 breaststroke is definitely her main event, it's the one she raced well in at trials. But in the individual medley she's still very talented, and hopefully she can make a final for Australia.

"We're not there as tourists, we're there as competitors and we're there to win."

Van Rijswijk will race in the 100m breaststroke on Sunday, August 29, and the 200m individual medley on Tuesday, August 31.

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