Paris 2024: Sporting family cheer on Para triathlete Stefan Daniel

For Canadian Para swimmer Stefan Daniel, sport is a family affair, as he's supported by his Para swimmer brother, ex-professional footballer father and marathon-running mother.

Daniel particularly attributes inspiration to his older brother, Christian, a now retired Para swimmer. Christian competed at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, having narrowly missed out on London 2012 Paralympic Games. The pair are known to share a close bond, which stemmed from training together. 

Daniel is hoping to do him proud as he prepares for Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, which is also the third Games at which Para triathlon is an event. 

“We did train together for a long time," Daniel tells the IPC. “I guess since I did my first maybe six, seven years of swimming with him, and he was extremely close to making the London 2012 Paralympic (team) in swimming.  

“It was cool to share those early experiences with him."

Christian was influential

Sibling competition may be natural, but the 27-year-old says watching Christian, who is four years older, compete with cerebral palsy gave him the belief and confidence to grow in his sporting career. Daniel became the first Canadian to win a Para triathlon medal with silver in Rio eight years ago in PT4, and will compete in PTS5 at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

“He (Christian) was very influential for me at a young age. Growing up, I was always trying to compete against my peers, and it was sometimes difficult because of my disability.  

“My brother was in the same club, and he never would use his disability as an excuse not to try to be the hardest working guy there. He always had a smile on his face, and that was important for me. I was always frustrated losing to my able-bodied peers.  

“I thought, ‘you know what, if he can do that, if he can try and he can always be positive, and so can I’. Having that influence from young age really helped. Otherwise, I might actually not even be in sport anymore.” 

A competitive family environment

His sporting family transcends the relationship with his brother, with the drive to succeed coming from his parents.  

"It was very competitive growing up. My dad did an Iron Man. My mom did marathons. My brother swam. My cousin was a pro cyclist; there are hockey players. We always challenge each other all the time, and would compete at everything we did, and we always just had fun with it." 

Yet for all the swimming Daniel enjoyed alongside his brother growing up, it is his least favourite triathlon discipline. 

"Swimming is tough, and for me, I think it's important to have a good group to train with to motivate you, because getting up early and being in the cold pool at seven in the morning is never fun. So yeah, I'd say running. Running is my favourite, and swimming is my least favorite." 

"Running is the best," Daniel says. "I just like the simplicity of running, how you can just go anywhere and explore and it's just you and your running shoes. And I think maybe my least favorite, I would say swimming."

Hopes that the noise of Paris will inspire 

Daniel took home a silver medal from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and added a bronze in Tokyo. As Paris embraces a 'Games wide open' after the pandemic restrictions necessary for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Daniel is hoping 'the noise' of Paris will inspire him. 

"Obviously I'd love to win. That's that's kind of been my dream ever since I was little, to try to win a Paralympic gold medal. That's the one I'm still missing; I've gotten silver and bronze, so it would be nice to finally get the gold, but obviously it's not going to be easy. 

"Everybody who went to Tokyo knows how to deal with changing situations. It can be pretty stressful in the weeks leading into it, but I know how to deal with it now. 

"You really do appreciate the difference of fans, but I think just cheering and just kind of going nuts on the side of the course is all we really need." 

In Paris, roared on by thousands and his family, Daniel is striving to achieve his dream of gold.