Week of 'world-class performances' has Canadian swimmers primed for Paris
CBC
Canada's Olympic swim team is as deep a group going to an Olympic Games as John Atkinson has been around to coach.
Summer McIntosh and Penny Oleksiak are among a number of stars who were named as Olympic swim team nominees going to Paris this summer. The announcement of both the Olympic and Paralympic teams came at the conclusion of the Olympic & Paralympic Trials that took place from Monday to Sunday at Toronto's Pan Am Sports Centre.
"It's certainly the deepest team that I've taken for Swimming Canada," said Atkinson, the high performance director and national coach. "When you look at the depth over a number of events, there are multiple athletes who have done world-class performances here in Toronto this week, who can all look to go on and improve on that and be better when we come to the Games.
"We had six medals in Rio (2016) and six medals in Tokyo (2021) and we have more depth here. So we're looking to at least get to that number and see where we're at."
WATCH: McIntosh wins 200m IM:
McIntosh qualified for five individual events at the swim trials.
The 17-year-old Toronto native has a spot in the 400-metre freestyle, 200 freestyle, 400 individual medley — which she broke her own world record in on Thursday — 200 butterfly and the 200 medley, the last of which came Sunday.
McIntosh made her mark as a 14-year-old at the Tokyo Games, and is now an eight-time world championship medallist entering the Paris Olympics.
"I'm pretty happy to be able to qualify in some of my top five events," McIntosh said. "Going to Paris, I'm super excited.
"I think it's going to be an amazing meet, not just for me but all of Team Canada."
Oleksiak, meanwhile, nears Olympic competition having gone through a few hurdles.
She has dealt with multiple injuries over the last couple of years, including a second knee surgery during that span that she told the CBC she had four months ago. Canada's most decorated Olympian of all time with seven medals, Oleksiak won her lone gold in the 100 free in the 2016 Rio Games.
WATCH: Oleksiak wins 50m free:
Oleksiak failed to hit the Olympic qualifying and consideration time in the 200 freestyle, finishing ninth on Tuesday. She won the 100 freestyle on Friday, getting under the consideration time but just going over the qualifying time, putting herself in position to compete for the 4x100 freestyle relay team.
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