HIGH ACHIEVERS: Special Olympian Michael Raytchev adds swimming success to figure skating

By Martin Cleary

Michael Raytchev is a two-sport Special Olympics athlete with distinction.

In the spring and summer, his focus is training with the Nepean Sharks at the Nepean Sportsplex and excelling as a freestyle and butterfly swimmer.

In the fall and winter, he turns his attention to figure skating as an accomplished singles competitor with the Goulbourn Skating Club.

Whether he’s powering his way through the water or showing his skills skating on frozen water, Raytchev has distinguished himself as one of the best Special Olympic athletes in Canada with a strong hint of international success on the ice.

“It’s amazing,” Nepean Sharks swimming coach Michele Brenning said about Raytchev’s ability to be a high-performance athlete in two sports.

“Special Olympics is one of those organizations that encourages its athletes to try a lot of different sports. Many register for multiple sports. It’s good for socialization and cross training.”

At the recent Special Olympics Canada Summer Games in Medicine Hat, AB, Raytchev posted some of the fastest times of his career in the pool and won three gold and one silver medals in four individual races and one gold and one silver in a pair of relay races with his Ontario teammates.

He also was a key member of the Ontario team, which collected the most medals during the Games. Ontario finished with a staggering 183 gold, 124 silver and 120 bronze medals for a total of 427 medals. British Columbia was second at 104-125-135-364, while Alberta took third place at 55-40-41-136.

Competing in different divisions to race against swimmers of equal ability, Raytchev swept the two freestyle sprints, winning the 50-metre race in division 11 in 31.32 seconds and the 100 metres division 13 in 1:09.40.

Both races were exceptionally close as the margin of victory in the 100-metre freestyle was only 0.06 seconds. In the 50-metre freestyle final, he edged Ontario teammate and regular training partner Gael Shindano of Ottawa by 0.51 seconds. Shindano stopped in 31.83 seconds.

In his two butterfly finals, Raytchev was first in the 50-metre division 7 test at 32.24 seconds and third in the 100-metre division 3 race in 1:23.10. He scored a narrow win in the 50-metre butterfly at 0.12 seconds.

Raytchev was a strong contributor to a pair of Ontario podium performances in the relays. He helped the province capture the gold medal in the 4×50-metre division 4 freestyle relay in 2:07.45 and earn the silver medal in the 4×100-metre division 2 freestyle relay in 5:04.85.

“He was really fast,” Brenning said about Raytchev. “It was really exciting to see his 100-metre freestyle as he beat the second-place swimmer by less than one-tenth of a second and to see how motivated he was to touch the wall and eke out the win.

“He always wants to do his best and is very humble.”

Raytchev’s overall performance in the pool, which included three personal-best times, will put him on the radar to be selected to Canada’s team for the 2027 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Santiago, Chile, Oct. 16-25. It will be the first time the Summer Games will be held in the Southern Hemisphere.

When he competed at the 2025 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Turin, Italy, he was one of the best figure skaters in his division.

In level 5 mixed division 1, Raytchev captured the silver medal with 32.12 points, based on his short program win (4.09 points) and a second-place showing in the free skating (28.03 points).

Raytchev was named to the worlds team because of his impressive results at the 2024 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games. He had a two gold-medal performance, including winning the Level 4 singles competition.

That lifted his Canada Winter Games medal count to five gold medals as he was a double champion at the 2020 Winter Games and a solo medallist during the 2019 nationals.

Raytchev, 22, started figure skating when he was nine years old and won every competition he entered until the 2025 Special Olympics World Winter Games.

His swimming career has followed a similar 14-year path as he trains with the Sharks in the club’s advanced program. He also has found time for extra training sessions in the pool to improve his techniques and lower his times.

Besides racing in a few Special Olympics competitions each year, Raytchev will join several of his teammates to compete in provincial masters (adults) events to strengthen his approach to swimming.

Jack Fan, whose name adorns the Goulbourn Skating Club’s home ice following his success with Katie Xu in Special Olympics figure skating, was similarly successful in the unfrozen water.

Here is a sport-by-sport breakdown as to how the other 19 athletes from Ottawa and area did at the 2026 Special Olympics Canada Summer Games:

SWIMMING

Nehan Khan, 25-metre freestyle, division 7, 21.41 seconds, gold; 25-metre backstroke, division 8, 23.23 seconds, gold; 50-metre backstroke, division 10, 57.80 seconds, silver; 4×25-metre freestyle relay, division 4, 1:12,78, bronze.

Gael Shindano, 100-metre butterfly, division 2, 1:26.37, gold; 50-metre freestyle, division 11, 31.83 seconds, silver; 50-metre butterfly, division 7, 34.65 seconds, bronze; 4×50-metre medley relay, division 3, 2:51.11, gold; 100-metre individual medley, division 7, 1:24.23, fourth.

Harris Wade, 50-metre breaststroke, division 7, 55.09 seconds, gold; 25-metre butterfly, division 5, 25.82 seconds, silver; 4×25-metre freestyle relay, division 4, 1:12.78, bronze.

Jack Fan, 1,500-metre freestyle, division 2, 23:27.50, bronze; 200-metre individual medley, division 3, 3:08.37, gold; 4×100-metre medley relay, division 3, 2:51.11, gold; 200-metre breaststroke, division 4, 3:23.93, fourth; 100-metre breaststroke, division 6, 1:37.45, seventh.

Trevor Mains, 100-metre breaststroke, division 4, 2:05.67, gold; 4×25-metre freestyle relay, division 4, 1:12.78, bronze; 100-metre individual medley, division 6, 1:44.20, fourth.

RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS

Kimana Mar, all-around level 4, division 1, 51.36 points, gold; ball, 12.08 points, gold; clubs, 13.97 points, gold; hoop, 12.62 points, gold; ribbon, 12.67 points, gold; group (small) floor exercise, Team Ontario, 16.05 points, gold.

Emily Byrne, all-around, level 2, division 1, 57.15 points, silver; mixed apparatus rope/ball, 14.15 points, silver; clubs, 14.87 points, gold; hoop, 14.37 points, bronze; ribbon, 13.75 points, bronze; group (small) floor exercise, Team Ontario, 16.05 points, gold.

Sophie Lacourse-Pudifin, all-around, level 4, division 1, 43.86 points, silver; ball, 11.17 points, silver, hoop, 12.00 points, silver; ribbon, 10.81 points, bronze; clubs, 9.87 points, fourth; group (small) floor exercise, Team Ontario, 16.05 points, gold.

Kate Brubacher, all-around level 2, division 2, 54.85 points, fourth; mixed apparatus rope/ball, 13.70 points, bronze; hoop, 13.78 points, bronze; clubs, 14.22 points, fourth; ribbon, 13.13 points, fourth; group (small) floor exercise, Team Ontario, 16.05 points, gold.

ATHLETICS

Kimberley Gorin, mini javelin, division 2, 6.92 metres, gold; 4×100-metre relay, division 1, 1:26.22, gold; 100 metres, division 2, 20.68 seconds, silver; running long jump, division 1, 1.86 metres, gold; 200 metres, division 3, 46.96 seconds, sixth.

Tristan McGuire, 3,000 metres, division 5, 10:00.01, gold; 4×400-metre relay, division 4, 4:28.69, gold; 800 metres, division 5, 2:23.89, silver; shot put, division 10, 5.02 metres, sixth.

Benjamin Chain, 200 metres, division 9, 34.46 seconds, gold; standing long jump, division 8, 1.73 metres, gold; 4×100-metre relay, division 4, 1:10.80, fifth; 100 metres, division 9, 16.22 seconds, eighth.

Karim Aviles, standing long jump, division 7, 1.27 metres, bronze; 800 metres, division 3, 4:31.63, bronze; mini javelin, division 9, 6.80 metres, fifth; 4×400-metre relay, division 2, 7:47.06, fifth.

GOLF

Jack Houlahan, level 5, division 3, 98-88-97-283, gold.

BOCCE

Chris White, division 11, 3-1 record, defeated Samuel Savario, Saint Jean sur Richelieu, 12-1 in the final, gold.

Klaska Aubin, division 3, 3-1 record, defeated Kayla Rutenburg, Marathon, ON, 12-4 in the final, gold.

Kayla Rutenburg, division 3, 3-1-1 record, defeated by Klaska Aubin, Ottawa, 12-4 in the final, silver.

Vincent Croteau, division 10, 3-2 record, defeated by Chester Stone, Wetashiwin, AB, 12-4 in the final, silver.

Allyson Parkes, division 4, 3-2 record, defeated Amber Butler, Brantford 8-7 in third-place match, bronze.