Canada Sets Rosters for Jr. Pan Pacs, Youth Olympics, Other Junior Meets

Swimming Canada has announced the selections for their four major youth teams for the 2014 summer long course season, selected primarily on the basis of their National Championship meet a few weeks ago.

The three teams are the Youth Olympic Games, where they were limited to 4 boys and 4 girls; the Junior Pan Pac Championships; the Mare Nostrum Junior Tour; and a new Male Relay Initiative squad.

Each roster is below, with a little more information about them.

2014 Junior Pan Pacific Championships

•    Staging camp: Victoria, BC
•    Competition: Kihei, Maui
•    Tour dates: August 15-September 1
•    Pool competition: August 27-30
•    Open Water: August 31
     Swimmers 18 and under as of August 27, 2014
•    Selection: Pan Pacific and Commonwealth Games Trials, April 2-5, 2014 and Canadian National Championships, July 16-20, 2014
•    Open Water Selection: 22nd Flowers Sea Swim, Cayman Islands, June 14-16, 2014
•    Criteria: click here

These selections are not yet complete, technically, as Swimming Canada has left the door open for a few more selections at the “Canadian National Championships” in July. This is Canada’s big focus meet for their juniors this year. Swimmers who wish to attend Junior Pan Pacs in Maui, Hawaii will have to contribute a fee of $1,250.

2014 Youth Olympic Games

•    Nanjing, China
•    Tour dates:  August, TBC
•    Competition dates: August 17-22, TBC

Unlike the Americans, the Canadians haven’t totally tossed away the Youth Olympic Games as a “this or that” selection meet. Several swimmers in this group are also on other of these big junior rosters. Acevedo is a part of the male relay initiative; while the entire female roster is qualified for Junior Pan Pacs.

2014 Male Junior Relay Initiative

• 12 swimmers, selected from Male Junior Relay Takeoff Camp
• Tour: May 11-19, 2014
• Competition: May 15-18, 2014, Charlotte Grand Prix

This is a new group, intended to be comprised of male swimmers born 1994 and later and their development in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyles.

Swimming Canada’s stated goal here is to identify a group of male 100 and 200 freestylers capable of winning a medal at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. after a large group of swimmers were evaluated at an early-April camp in Victoria in dry-land activation, warm ups, test sets, and warm downs, 12 were selected to travel to the Charlotte Grand Prix in the U.S. in May, 2014.

The Canadian men have struggled to even put together men’s relays that met the country’s own qualifying standards for events like the World Championships, Pan Pacs, and Commonwealth Games

2014 Mare Nostrum Junior Tour

•    Tour: June 6-18, 2014
•    Canet: June 11-12
•    Barcelona: June 14-15

Swimmers will race two of the stops on the 2014 Mare Nostrum series, skipping the 3rd stop in Monaco. The Canadians have been sending juniors on this tour for a few years now, and usually the athletes earn back some money in the form of prizes to cover the travel costs, of which athletes typically contribute about $800 out-of-pocket. (Some provinces contribute to cover the athletes’ out-of-pocket costs).