Experienced veterans lead program poised with potential on road to LA 2028
VICTORIA—Canada’s triathletes are ready to toe the line for the beginning of a new Olympic and Paralympic journey towards LA 2028.
Triathlon Canada kicked off the new quadrennial by naming a group of 15 athletes replete with a mix of veteran leadership and podium potential along with youthful energy and drive to its national program.
“We have assembled a unique group of athletes led by a talented group of high performers on the international stage, along with an inspired grouping of development athletes and their coaches who are determined to race competitively against the world,” said Dan Proulx, high-performance director, Triathlon Canada.
A medal-winning crop of three Paralympians and three Olympians will be counted on to lead a high-charged group of young guns in Canada’s podium pursuit in triathlon over the next year.
A Paralympic bronze medallist in Paris one year ago, Leanne Taylor (Oak Bluff, Man.) earned a spot on the National Team for the third-straight year. Expecting her first baby this summer, Taylor is eyeing down a return to action at the the 2025 World Para Triathlon Championships in Australia in October.
Taylor will be joined by two-time Paralympic medallist, and five-time World Champion, Stefan Daniel (Calgary), along with Kamylle Frenette (Dieppe, N.B.). Both will be hungry to get back on the start line for the race towards LA 2028. Daniel was dominating the Paralympic race in Paris before crashing to the pavement in the final hairpin turn on the bike course. A bronze medallist at the 2022 World Championships and a fourth-place finisher at the last two Paralympics, Frenette won her first World Triathlon Para Series event in Montreal last June. She captured her first World Championship podium in 2022 when she claimed the bronze.
“I’m feeling excited to kickstart the new quadrennial in a few weeks. I took a long break after last season and am feeling healthy and ready to go,” said Daniel. “I’ve missed racing but I’m looking forward to getting things rolling again in Yokohama and training alongside this great group of Canadian athletes.”
Three athletes rich with multi-sport games experience – Tyler Mislawchuk (Oak Bluff, Man.), Charles Paquet (Port-Cartier, Que.), and Emy Legault (L’Île Perrot, Que.) will headline Triathlon Canada’s Olympic stream program in 2025.
Mislawchuk and Paquet battled extreme heat, a rapid current in the Seine River and a world-class field to finish in the top 15 at the Olympic Games in Paris. Competing in his third Games, Mislawchuk finished ninth for his best Olympic result. Paquet was steady in 13th. Emy Legault, who like Paquet was making her Olympic debut, placed 35th in the women’s race.
Mislawchuk became the first Canadian in the 22-year history of triathlon being in the Olympic programme to win the Olympic Test Event in the lead up to Tokyo 2020, capping off a breakthrough season where he won the first two World Cup races of his career before going on to capture his first ever World Triathlon Series podium by winning the bronze in Montreal in 2019.
Charles Paquet has proven he is ready to take on the world’s best. The 27-year-old surged to a seventh-place finish at the final Olympic qualification race in Cagliari, Italy last May. He posted a career-best fifth-place finish on the WTCS two weeks earlier in Yokohama, Japan. Those results followed his seventh-place finish last year at the Montreal WTCS event, just weeks prior to winning his first World Triathlon Cup medal. Paquet is no stranger to representing Canada at a multi-sport games. He was a member of Canada’s silver medal-winning mixed relay team at the 2019 Pan American Games, represented Canada at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and competed at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games.
The 29-year-old Legault represented Canada at the 2023 Pan American Games where she was part of the bronze medal-winning relay team and placed sixth in the individual women’s race. Legault enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2022, rattling off four podium finishes on the Americas Triathlon Cup series in addition to two top 12 finishes on the WTCS. She also finished 10th at her first Commonwealth Games.
“These six athletes are fiercely determined to continue this program’s tradition of excellence, dating back to Simon Whitfield’s gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. They are squarely focused on performance every time they hit the start line,” added Proulx. “With this group of proven performers continuing to lead the way, we have increased our attention on developing the next generation of athletes within this program to ensure our journey to international success continues well beyond 2028.”
Triathlon Canada also named nine other athletes from across the country to its National Team. The group of four women and five men includes: Noémie Beaulieu (Gatineau, Que.); Maïra Carreau (La Prairie, Que.); Sophia Howell (Airdrie, Alta.); recent World Cup winner, Desirae Ridenour (Cowichan Bay, B.C.); Pavlos Antoniades (Trois-Rivières, Que.); Mathis Beaulieu (Quebec City); Daniel Damian (Victoria); Liam Donnelly (Campbellville, Ont.); and Martin Sobey (Charlottetown).
“This young group of athletes have proven they can deliver when it counts at all levels of their development pathway,” said Proulx. “This is also an extremely promising group of developing athletes who are equally determined to achieve their performance goals. It is our goal to work with our funding partners to ensure this group of athletes have the tools they require to succeed well beyond 2028.”
Team Canada’s first major test in 2025 will be at the Yokohama World Triathlon Championship Series, May 16-17.
Triathlon Canada is the governing body of the sport in the country. Triathlon Canada’s more than 22,000members include athletes, coaches and officials from the grassroots to elite levels. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Z3R0D, Tribe Solutions, NIRVANA, Austral, Training Peaks, Champion Systems, BOCO Gear, Outway, SCICON, ZiZU Optics, Fulgaz – along with the City of Victoria, Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee, and Own the Podium, Triathlon Canada develops Olympic, Paralympic and World Champions in all race disciplines. For more information on Triathlon Canada, please visit us at www.triathloncanada.com.
*****
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Chris Dornan
Triathlon Canada
T: 403-620-8731
E-mail: chris.dornan@triathloncanada.com