VICTORIA – Swimming Canada has announced Canada’s swimming team selected to compete at the FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
A total of 32 swimmers will represent the country in the Hungarian capital, including 18 female and 14 male athletes.
The pool and open water athletes qualified for Team Canada based on their performances at the Bell Canadian Swimming Trials at Saanich Commonwealth Place this week in Victoria.
“I’m really looking forward to the summer,” said Kylie Masse of the High Performance Centre – Ontario, who won all three backstroke events and the 50-m butterfly at Trials.
The world championships are scheduled for June 18-July 3, with pool swimming running the first eight days, followed by open water competition. Masse, the two-time defending world champion in the 100-m backstroke, is also among those nominated to the Commonwealth Games team later this month. She also holds the Commonwealth titles in the 100 and 200 back.
“It will be a challenge with two big international meets but regardless I’m always excited to race and really looking forward to getting the national team together and seeing what we can do,” Masse said.
Masse is one of 17 team members with previous long-course world championships experience. That includes medallists Javier Acevedo, Eric Hedlin, Yuri Kisil, Maggie Mac Neil, Penny Oleksiak, Sydney Pickrem, Taylor Ruck, Kayla Sanchez and Rebecca Smith. The 14 rookies include Olympians Katrina Bellio, Tessa Cieplucha, Ruslan Gaziev, Finlay Knox, and Summer McIntosh, who looks to be a force to be reckoned with after winning four events at Trials (200 and 400-m freestyle, 200-m butterfly and 400-m individual medley.)
“I think it will be awesome, that’s the beauty of sport,” Masse said. “Having fresh new faces mixed with people that have years of experience is so powerful for learning in both directions. I’m really looking forward to welcoming fresh faces and also getting to know my current teammates even more.”Swimming Canada High Performance Director and National Coach John Atkinson was pleased with the performances he saw at Trials, which included multiple Canadian records.
“Trials are always exciting and seeing the performances through the week shows the athletes are in a great position leading into the summer championships, to work with their coaches to build and improve at the World Championships and Commonwealth Games,” said Atkinson.
A total of 23 swimmers have been nominated to the Commonwealth Games team due to the different selection criteria for the two events. The full Commonwealth Games team will be ratified later this month in partnership with Commonwealth Sport Canada, after the Paralympic program nominees for the team are confirmed.
“With our athletes we have a great blend of experience and new additions to both our World Championships teams for the pool and open water, and this with the Commonwealth Games will now provide a great racing opportunity this summer when improvement and progression can follow,” Atkinson said.
Swimming Canada Senior Coach and HPC-Vancouver Interim Head Coach Martyn Wilby will be head coach of both teams, joined by HPC-Ontario Interim Head Coach Ryan Mallette, Linda Kiefer of University of Toronto Varsity Blues and Greg Arkhurst, head coach of Montreal’s CAMO club, at both events. Rounding out the pool team coaching staff for the FINA World Championships will be Abderrahmane Tissira of Simon Fraser Aquatics and Vlastimil Cerny of University of Manitoba Bisons. The Open Water Head Coach at worlds will be Swimming Canada Distance/Open Water Coach Mark Perry, joined by Paul Birmingham of Edmonton Keyano Swim Club and HPC-Vancouver Assistant Coach Mandy Bell. Rob Novak of Etobicoke Swimming will round out the coaching staff at Commonwealth Games, while UBC Thunderbirds Assistant Coach Sierra Moores will attend staging camp as an assistant through the Commonwealth Games Canada Internship.
“In all we will be appointing 11 different coaches to our senior national teams this summer. This is great recognition to the coaches appointed and to their clubs, as well as providing great opportunities for our coaches to develop. This is a key strategy for Swimming Canada and it will continue,” Atkinson said.
While most of the coaches are veterans of one or more senior international events, Atkinson also highlighted senior national team newcomers Novak and Tissira. Both completed the UBC one year Graduate Certificate in High Performance Coaching and Technical Leadership aimed at helping coaches to provide the highest quality of athlete programming. The graduate certificate ladders into a Masters degree at UBC assisting coaches in their professional credentials. As part of this project they undertook mentoring with Swimming Canada. Both have also participated in Swimming Canada’s Select Coaches Group, and Tissira was part of the staff at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships as an apprentice coach.
“It is really pleasing to see them develop in their coaching and making the FINA World Championships senior team this year in a coaching capacity with their athletes,” Atkinson said.
Full team lists:
FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – POOL
| Club | Coach | Last Name/ | First Name/ |
| Nom de famille | Prénom | ||
| MAC | Miller, Andrew | Acevedo | Javier |
| UNCAN | Robinson, Katie | Angus | Sophie |
| ISC | Szaranek, John | Bagshaw | Jeremy |
| ESWIM | Novak, Rob | Bellio | Katrina |
| MAC | Kredich, Matt | Cieplucha | Tessa |
| UL | Paradis, Patrick | Dergousoff | James |
| UNCAN | Aitken, Ron | Dunford | Abby |
| SFA | Tissira, Abderrahamane | Gagne | Collyn |
| ESWIM | Bowe, Matt | Gaziev | Ruslan |
| CAMO | Arkhurst, Greg | Harvey | Mary-Sophie |
| PCSC | Gangloff, Mark | Hussey | Patrick |
| WS | Mallette, Ryan | Kisil | Yuri |
| SCAR | Mallette, Ryan | Knox | Finlay |
| NYAC | Mallette, Ryan | Liendo | Joshua |
| LAC | Bottom, Mike | MacNeil | Maggie |
| TSC | Mallette, Ryan | Masse | Kylie |
| ESWIM | Mallette, Ryan | McIntosh | Summer |
| UCSC | Blondal, Mike | Nicol | Rachel |
| TSC | Mallette, Ryan | Oleksiak | Penny |
| TSC | Mallette, Ryan | Pickrem | Sydney |
| SCAR | Meehan, Greg | Ruck | Taylor |
| AAC | Mallette, Ryan | Sanchez | Kayla |
| CAMO | Arkhurst, Greg | Savard | Katerine |
| UCSC | Blondal, Mike | Smith | Rebecca |
| UCSC | Blondal. Mike | Stokes | Richie |
| CASC | Johnson, Dave | Wilm | Ingrid |
| UM | Cerny, Vlastimil | Wog | Kelsey |
STAFF
John Atkinson – Team Leader
Iain McDonald – Asst Team Leader & IST Lead
Jan Hanan – Team Manager
Martyn Wilby – Head Coach
Ryan Mallette – Team Coach
Greg Arkhurst – Team Coach
Abderrahamane Tissira – Team Coach
Vlastimil Cerny – Team Coach
Linda Kiefer – Team Coach
Tom Vandenbogaerde – Performance Scientist
Johnny Fuller – Physical Performance
Rick Pelletier – Massage Therapy
Suzanne Maroney – Massage Therapy
Ron Mattison – Physiotherapy
Graham Olson – Video Analysis
Dr Steve Keeler – Physician
Nathan White – Media Attache
FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – OPEN WATER
| Club | Coach | Last Name/ | First Name/ |
| Nom de famille | Prénom | ||
| MAC | Baker, Sean | Axon | Alex |
| ESWIM | Novak, Rob | Bellio | Katrina |
| PCSC | Gingras, Martin | Brown | Eric |
| UNCAN | Aitken, Ron | Dunford | Abby |
| UBCT | Wilby, Martyn | Fan | Hau Li |
| EKSC | Birmingham, Paul | Finlin | Emma |
| UVPCS | Clousten, Ryan | Hedlin | Eric |
STAFF
John Atkinson – Team Leader
Iain McDonald – Asst Team Leader & IST Lead
Cynthia Pincott – Team Manager
Jan Hanan – Team Manager
Mark Perry – Head Coach
Paul Birmingham- Team Coach
Mandy Bell – Team Coach
Tom Vandenbogaerde – Performance Scientist
Nathan Skirrow – Massage Therapy
Graham Olson – Video Analysis
Dr Rob Brunelle – Physician
Nathan White – Media Attache
COMMONWEALTH GAMES NOMINEES – OLYMPIC PROGRAM*
| Club | Coach | Last Name/ | First Name/ |
| Nom de famille | Prénom | ||
| MAC | Miller, Andrew | Acevedo | Javier |
| UNCAN | Robinson, Katie | Angus | Sophie |
| ISC | Szaranek, John | Bagshaw | Jeremy |
| ESWIM | Novak, Rob | Bellio | Katrina |
| PCSC | Gingras, Martin | Brown | Eric |
| MAC | Kredich, Matt | Cieplucha | Tessa |
| UL | Paradis, Patrick | Dergousoff | James |
| SFA | Tissira, Abderrahamane | Gagne | Collyn |
| ESWIM | Bowe, Matt | Gaziev | Ruslan |
| CAMO | Arkhurst, Greg | Harvey | Mary-Sophie |
| PCSC | Gangloff, Mark | Hussey | Patrick |
| ESWIM | Novak, Rob | Jansen | Ella |
| WS | Mallette, Ryan | Kisil | Yuri |
| SCAR | Mallette, Ryan | Knox | Finlay |
| NYAC | Mallette, Ryan | Liendo | Joshua |
| LAC | Bottom, Mike | MacNeil | Maggie |
| TSC | Mallette, Ryan | Masse | Kylie |
| ESWIM | Mallette, Ryan | McIntosh | Summer |
| TSC | Mallette, Ryan | Oleksiak | Penny |
| TSC | Mallette, Ryan | Pickrem | Sydney |
| AAC | Mallette, Ryan | Sanchez | Kayla |
| CAMO | Arkhurst, Greg | Savard | Katerine |
| UCSC | Blondal, Mike | Smith | Rebecca |
STAFF
John Atkinson – Team Leader
Iain McDonald – Asst Team Leader & IST Lead
Cynthia Pincott – Team Manager
Martyn Wilby – Head Coach
Ryan Mallette – Team Coach
Greg Arkhurst – Team Coach
Rob Novak – Team Coach
Linda Kiefer – Team Coach
Sierra Moores – Assistant Coach – Staging – Commonwealth Games Canada Internship Coach
Tom Vandenbogaerde – Performance Scientist
Johnny Fuller – Physical Performance
Remo Bucci – Massage Therapy
Ron Castro – Massage Therapy
Meghan Buttle – Physiotherapy
Graham Olson – Video Analysis
Dr Sara Forsyth (staging only) – Physician
*Full team announcement is expected later this month when Paralympic program nominees are r