Katerine Savard of Quebec City has been one of Canada’s brightest young stars in swimming since the Olympic flame was extinguished four years ago in Beijing. Her and her fellow Canadians will compete for spots on the national team at the Olympic swimming trials that begin Tuesday at the Olympic Park Sport Centre in Montreal.
Watch the first day of races with coverage starting at 7 p.m. ET on Sportsnet ONE and East
Savard, a top seed who currently holds the Canadian record in the 100m butterfly at 57.80 seconds, is pitted against veteran Audrey Lacroix of Pont-Rouge, Que., and Mackenzie Downing of Whitehorse, Yt.
Other top seeds at Tuesday’s opening races include Jordan Hartney of White Rock, B.C., Stefan Hirniak of Victoria, Scott Dickens of Burlington, Ont., and Alexa Komarnycky of Etobicoke, Ont.
In the women’s 400m freestyle, the four swimmers that battled for the gold at last year’s world championship trials are the top four seeds this year with Komarnycky, Barbara Jardin of Montreal, Samantha Cheverton of Pointe-Claire, Que., and Brittany MacLean of Etobicoke, Ont., going toe-to-toe.
Programming alert: Tune into Sportsnet all week for coverage of the Canadian Olympic Trials from Montreal. Check your schedule for listings. | TV schedule
On the men’s side, the 100m breaststroke is full of contenders as Dickens, the 2011 world trials champion, Mike Brown of Perth, Ont., and Richard Funk of Edmonton are seeded one, two, three respectively.
In the 200m freestyle, less than a half second separates the top three seeded times posted by Hirniak, Blake Worsley of Victoria and Chad Bobrosky of Calgary.
Finally in the men’s 400IM, Hartney, Andrew Ford of Guelph, Ont., and Alec Page of Victoria have the top three times heading into Tuesday’s race.
There are also Para swimming races beginning Tuesday as Canada’s top swimmers with a disability compete for a spot on the Paralympic Games team. The Paralympics take place from Aug. 29 to Sept. 9 in London.