Paralympic Games champion Nicholas Bennett has again been named Swimming Canada's Male Swimmer of the Year in their Paralympic Program.

It's the second consecutive for the 21-year-old Parksville swimmer to receive the prestigious honour. He was named Para athlete of the year with fellow Paralympic games medallist Aur茅lie Rivard, who earned her seventh such accolade.  

Bennett won gold at the S14 100M breaststroke and 200 individual medley at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris last summer. He also won a silver in the 200 freestyle.

His time of 2:06.05 in the 200 IM was a Paralympic record, while his 1:53.61 in the 200 free lowered his own Canadian standard. He set the world record in the 200 IM in May at the Team Trials in Toronto clocking 2:05.97.

The only Canadian Para swimmer to win two gold medals in Paris, Bennett was named one of Canada鈥檚 flag bearers for the closing ceremony,

He also became the first Canadian male swimmer to win a Paralympic title since 2012, the first to capture multiple gold medals at a single Games since 2004, and the first to reach the podium three times since 2012.

鈥淵ou always dream about those kinds of moments, but you never really expect them to come,鈥� said Bennett. 鈥淓very time I look in the mirror, I just see myself. It鈥檚 kind of weird sometimes to think that those monumental accomplishments happened. I still have a hard time believing it.鈥�