Penny Oleksiak's golden performance inspires Saskatoon swimmers

Penny Oleksiakjust lit a fire underneath a generation of Canadian swimmers.

The 16-year-old'sdominating gold-medal performance at theRio Olympicsis inspiring young swimmers across the country.

She kicked in the door, walked in and made herself comfortable on the podium. And in doing so, she sent a clear message back home.

"It's opening the door," said Saskatoon Goldfins' performance coach Steven Hitchings.

"Penny's blasting that wide open."

Samantha Ryan is still processing what she watchedin the pool Thursday night. She'll be competing at the Paralympics in Rio and she swims the 100-metre butterfly and 100-metre freestyle.

She's one year older than Oleksiak and, suddenly, an Olympic medal is not an abstract goal.

"Just kind of crazy to think about that's going to be me in a few weeks. I still haven't gotten my head around it yet," she said.

"She can do that, I'm going to try and do that.

"Like she's talking about her finishing speed, how she keeps her head down the last 15 metres, and that's definitely something I need to work on."

The Paralympics will take place in Rio in September.