2023 Canadian Swimming Trials
- March 28 – April 2, 2023
- Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre
- TPASC
- Long Course Meters
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
Note: This report was updated on 03/21/2023 when updated psych sheets were released.
Swimming Canada has published psych sheets for the upcoming 2023 Canadian Swimming Trials, which will take place in Toronto, Ontario. The meet will run from March 28 – April 2, 2023, and will be used to select the team for this year’s World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. The majority of Canada’s stars will take to the pool next week to vie for a spot on the World Champs team, including nearly all members of the 2022 team.
Multi-medalist Summer McIntosh is entered in five events at the meet and is the top seed in all of them. She is set to race the 400 freestyle, 200 IM, 200 butterfly, 400 IM, and 200 freestyle. Last year at World Championships, McIntosh won gold in both the 200 fly and 400 IM, and picked up a silver in the 400 freestyle. Over the past two years, McIntosh has established new Canadian records in every one of those five events. Most recently, she swam new World Junior records in both the 200 freestyle (1:54.13), 200 butterfly (2:05.05), and 200 IM (2:08.08). McIntosh should easily win the majority of her events at Trials and will be in contention for several medals at World Champs.
Kylie Masse is also set to compete in the 50, 100, and 200 backstrokes, along with the 50 fly. She is the top seed in the backstrokes as the Canadian record holder and will be swimming for a spot on her fourth straight Worlds team. Masse won gold in the 100 back in 2017 and 2019, along with silver in 2022. In Fukuoka, she will likely face off against the other two members of the Big 3 Backstrokers, Regan Smith and Kaylee McKeown who have been at the top of the backstroke gang for the last several years.
The race for second place in the 100 backstroke might be one of the most exciting races of the meet. Taylor Ruck and Ingrid Wilm are the number 2 and 3 women in Canadian long course backstroke at the moment and have raced each other in the event for the past two years at Trials. Masse won the event in both 2021 and 2022, while Ruck placed second and Wilm third. In 2021 Ruck hit a 59.60 to Wilm’s 1:00.19 and the next year Ruck swam a 59.67 to Wilm’s 59.75. Both times, Wilm hit the FINA A cut but didn’t get selected to race the event because there are only two spots per event.
Ruck, fresh off a second straight 200 freestyle title at the NCAA Championships is also entered to race the 100 and 200 freestyles. Wilm has five entries including the 50 back, 100 back, 200 back, 50 free, and 50 fly.
Another recent NCAA champion who is going to race in Toronto is Olympic and world champion Maggie MacNeil who is the top seed in her signature 100 butterfly. She won gold in 2019 at Worlds, at the Olympics in 2021, and didn’t race the event in 2022. The race for second in the 100 fly will also be exciting as Katerine Savard (57.86) and Rebecca Smith (58.15) have both swum the event for Canada and will put up a solid fight for a spot on the team.
On the men’s side, Josh Liendo will be gunning for a chance to race in Fukuoka, having won individual bronze in both the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly at the 2022 World Championships. Liendo is the top seed in the 50 free, 100 free, 50 butterfly, and 100 butterfly. Liendo will have an even shorter turnaround time than the women between NCAAs and Trials as the men’s meet runs until March 25th, with just two off days in between.
Ella Jansen was originally not in the psych sheets, but her name appears in the updated version, which was released on March 21. Jansen is one of Canada’s rising stars in the pool right now and is entered in seven events at Trials. She is the second seed in the 200 butterfly and 400 freestyle behind Summer McIntosh, third in the 400 IM, 4th in the 100 butterfly, 5th in the 200 freestyle, and 7th in the 200 IM. Her only non-top-8 seed is the 100 freestyle, in which she is entered in 15th place.
Other national teamers who will be present at Canadian Trials include Kelsey Wog, Sydney Pickrem, Javier Acevedo, Finlay Knox, James Dergousoff, Gabe Mastromatteo, Mary-Sophie Harvey, Ruslan Gaziev, and Ilya Kharun. As previously reported, Olympic champion Penny Oleksiak will be absent as she recovers from surgery. Other names that don’t appear on the psych sheets are Yuri Kisil, Jeremy Bagshaw, and Markus Thormeyer, who just finished serving a 12-month suspension for violating anti-doping rules.
CBC is reporting Taylor Ruck as not attending.
Jeremy Bagshaw was a late entry and his now in the latest psych sheet
How is open water being selected this year?
Kathryn Hazle also has some huge potential
Worries SwimSwam be able to give a full run down of status of swimmers missing and why? Maybe already working on it? We know about Penny as she has documented publicly (thank-you Penny!). But how about:
Pratt – raced prelims at Westerns, still rehabbing?
Markus – suspension over but he hasn’t announced anything past 2yrs, training? Retiring? Contemplating?
Bagshaw – awesome to see a swimmer likely not capable of international podiums still compete into his late 20s because he loved it. Approaching retirement?
Jade Hannah?
Kisil…??? Taking this summer off? Injured?
Canada is notoriously tight-lipped about providing information or access to athletes. A few of them are willing to handle their own media, but for the most part, they all insist on running through the fed, and the fed seems to be intent on keeping them out of the spotlight. They’re one of the few federations that have managed to be less-transparent than USA Swimming. They block interviews that are light-hearted and upbeat – they definitely aren’t going to provide them when it’s about *athletes missing*.
So, we’re digging and asking, but we have to find back channels for everything – do it all the hard way. With many (most?) of them being coached by national-center coaches, things get even trickier.… Read more »
@Braden Keith, in the same context, do you have any news considering mister Dressel ? Is he replying to Swimswam’s interview/pod requests ?
Thank you Braden for sharing some backstage info! So many things now make sense! When you talk with parents, so many of them complain about lack of transparency and politics in Canadian swimming, yet, no one is brave to challenge it publicly. Interviews with Canadian swimmers are usually also so polished, overly polite and full of proper thing and words that they sound almost void of authenticity, as if kids know that they are watched and judged by Swim Canada bureaucrats 🙁
Pretty sure Jade Hannah had shoulder surgery this season. Wouldn’t expect her to compete until next NCAA season.
Cole Pratt was out for an injury, now coaches at the Cascade Swim Club. I do not think he will be making a comeback.
Pratt swam at a provincial level meet recently. Couldn’t seem to do a proper backstroke start so probably still shoulder recovery. Didn’t pull body up just pushed off.
Psych sheets have been updated again. Pratt & Bagshaw appear in this updated version.
I’m hoping the world – or at least the US, as I’m going to have to go selfish on this one! – can watch. Dig this: If ever there were a meet set up for a swimmer to do something special, it’s Summer in this one. The schedule couldn’t be planned better for her and the quint of her program. One prelim and the same final for five of the six days, with the sixth (Day 2) off! Looks like it may have been written for her, which is something, if that is so, Canada, I applaud! The one I’m most anxious to see: whether she can take Katie’s 400 free WJR.
The one I’m most anxious to see: whether she can take Katie’s 400 free WJR.
—
She will.
In Summer we trust.
with the new rules, she gets next year to do it too
She’s going to take it this year but not at trials. Absolutely no need for her to rest for trials. She’ll take it at worlds
Summer has had some impressive, record-breaking swims when not fully rested. Not sure that would be a stopper.
This is going to be the first all-around (Men and Women) internationally impressive Canadian Trials in a great many years. Excited beyond belief! Definitely an event the world should be watching.
Same old, same old. Easterns/ Westerns last weekend. A number of swimmers swim in NCAA and likely have not swam a long corse meet this season. The NCAA women’s and men’s championships finish 2 to 3 weeks before. The majority of USports swimmers likely have not swam a long course meet this season. But let’s have the showcase Canadian meet at the beginning of April. Why is it done that way? Oh! I remember now it’s because Swim Canada follows the British swim playbook.
Yes true most Usports swimmers may not have swam LC… Except of course the fastest ones who raced LC… at Usports Champs in the Finals…
And any fast high schoolers who raced at East/West swam… Wait for it…LC…
As for NCAA swimmers who might make the team, Maggie/Josh/Taylor… while a tricky tight turnaround, likely no issue for them.
No where did it say that any age group swimmers had no lcm experience. The vast majority of eastern western swimmers were age group and have already swim 2 to 3 long course meets. But your 100 pcent correct USports and NCAA swimmers will swim their best lcm times at trials in April for the season after 1finals race at Usports or with no lcm racing before trials as is the case for most in ncaa.
Very few usport swimmers (unfortunately) are anywhere near the qualifying times. Stephen Calkins, Gabe M, Rebecca S, a male 200 Backstroker or 2, maybe 1-2 more at most. A later trials would not significantly alter this gap. Other than above 90% of the team will be current pros, centre swimmers, a few NCAA stars and fast teenagers ie. Summer, Ella, Illya, and hopefully a surprise or 2.
Usports may as well stick to SC finals.
The absolute worst meet lineup of all time. I wonder what’s going on at Swimming Canada headquarters to create such an absurd schedule
Tis curious that CAN Swimming has stuck to the April Trials model when AUS has continued to have successful major meets since switching their Trials meet from April to June in 2019.
Not to say that CAN has had poor meets but the point regarding lack of LCM racing for a significant portion of their “selection pool” (NCAA & USports) is a very valid one. It clearly works for their southern neighbour and the AUS evidence since their switch should at least have them seriously considering their options.