Diving Plongeon Canada  – The 2017 Winter National Diving Championships will run February 17-19 at the Repsol Centre.
 

Calgary, February 16^th 2017 – The nation’s best divers are in Calgary this week for the 2017 Winter National Diving Championships being held at the Repsol Sport Centre, February 17-19. This event will feature 41 athletes, representing 12 clubs from across the country, in a total of six events.

“We’re excited to host Diving Canada’s 2017 Winter National Diving Championships in Calgary,” says Cindy Ady, CEO of Tourism Calgary. “Calgary has a long and proud history of hosting world-class sporting events that promote active lifestyles while contributing to the local economy and the promotion of Calgary as a destination. We extend a very warm welcome to Diving Canada’s athletes, coaches, judges and fans to our city.”
 
Throughout the event, fans will get to see emerging talents and elite divers like Olympian and World Championships medalist François Imbeau-Dulac (26, St-Lazare, QC), World Cup finalist and defending champion on 10m, Celina Toth (24 St-Thomas, ON), as well as two-time World Junior Championships bronze medalist, Olivia Chamandy (16, Westmount, QC).
 
Local divers Margo Erlam (14, Calgary, AB) Tatiana Conn (12, Calgary, AB) and Thomas Ciprick (13, Calgary, AB) all national champions at the junior level, will have the opportunity to measure up against the country’s top senior athletes and showcase their talent in front of a home crowd.
 
“This is our first national championship of the new quadrennial, and everyone has their sights set already on Tokyo 2020,” says Mitch Geller, Chief Technical Officer of Diving Canada.“It’s very fitting that we’re hosting our event in a city that has a rich history with diving and has been one of the top contributors of world-class divers over the past several decades.”.
 
“It’s great that we can bring all the top divers from around the country to inspire the local athletes,” adds Geller.  “Calgary has some of the best junior divers right now, coming up under Diving Canada’s 2016 Junior Coach of the Year, Charlie Tu of Dive Calgary. We’ll get a glimpse of what we have in store in terms of future Olympians going forward to Tokyo 2020 and beyond.”  
 
Diving Canada’s star athletes, including three-time Olympians Meaghan Benfeito and Jennifer Abel, as well as Rio 2016 Olympians Philippe Gagné and Vincent Riendeau, are also taking advantage of the championships to train in Calgary before leaving for the FINA Diving Grand Prix in Rostock (Feb. 24-26) and the FINA Diving World Series in Beijing (March 3-5) and Guangzhou (March 9-11).

Important funding for these championships was received through grant programs from Alberta Sport Connection, the City of Calgary Council Strategic Initiatives Fund, and the Calgary Sport Tourism Authority.

A detailed schedule, and live results are available at diving.ca. The entire competition will be available to watch through CBC Sports’ livestream.

About Diving Plongeon Canada
 

Diving Plongeon Canada (DPC) was established in 1967 as a not-for-profit organization to promote the growth and awareness of the sport in this country. As a member of FINA, the world’s governing body of aquatic sports, DPC contributes to the development of globally accepted standards of excellence in diving and supports the rules and regulations of international competition. Representing nine provincial diving associations, 67 local diving clubs and close to 4,000 high performance athletes, DPC shares a national commitment to advance the art and sport of diving and to position Canada as the number one diving nation of the world. 

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For more information:

Maelle Dancause
Manager, Public Relations
Diving Plongeon Canada 
Cell: 514-475-4540
maelle@diving.ca