Swimming Canada – GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands – Stephanie Horner and Hau-Li Fan added their names to Canada’s roster for this summer’s Pan Pacific Swimming Championships with their performances Monday at the UANA Open Water Swimmming Championships.

Horner won Monday’s 10-km race to earn the second female spot on the team. She will join Mackenzie Padington of Campbell River, B.C., who qualified previously as the fastest 800-m freestyle swimmer from the selection window.

“I’m so excited to be Tokyo bound this summer. It’s always an honour to represent Canada,” said Horner, a three-time Olympian – twice in the pool, once in open water. “I love to race and I just want to keep getting better. This morning’s race went well. I came in with a plan and executed it. There is so much to learn from every open water race. I am always trying to learn in order to improve my ranking.”

On the men’s side, Victoria’s Eric Hedlin, who had previously qualified as the fastest 1500-m swimmer, was the winner, followed by Vancouver’s Fan, who earned the second spot on the team.

“It was a good race, I did what I had to do to make the team,” said Fan, who was nearly 10 seconds behind Hedlin, but held off Victoria’s Jon McKay by just over a second. “There were a few technical aspects that need improvement but overall it was a solid race. I would have liked to be more competitive but I’m still relatively new to this sport and I will gain this knowledge with more experience.”

The four athletes are the first named to Team Canada for the Pan Pacific Championships, which take place Aug. 9-14 in Tokyo. The rest of the team will be selected at the Canadian Swimming Trials in Edmonton July 18-22.

“I’m pleased the selection for the Pan Pacs went very smoothly down here in the Cayman Islands,” said Swimming Canada Distance/Open Water Coach Mark Perry. “The hard work now starts for those selected to make sure that they are in tiptop shape in Japan this summer.”

 

Nathan White

Senior manager, Communications, Swimming Canada

Gestionnaire supérieur des communications, Natation Canada 

t. +1 613-260-1348 x2002 | m. +1 613-866-7946 | nwhite@swimming.ca