McIntosh, Ruck, Routliffe lead Canadian swim team headed to Pan and Para Pan Pacific Championships
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Swimming Canada has revealed the athletes who will represent the country at next month’s 2026 Pan Pacific and Para Pan Pacific Championships following the Bell Canadian Swimming Trials in Montreal.
The Pan Pacific roster features 44 swimmers — 22 women and 22 men, while 20 Para athletes were selected to the Para Pan Pacific team.
Olympians Summer McIntosh and Taylor Ruck headline the team after standout performances at trials.
McIntosh continued her remarkable season by setting a world record in the women’s 200-metre butterfly, swimming to a time of two minutes and 1.65 seconds, erasing the oldest women’s long-course world record.
Ruck also put together one of the best meets of her career. She won five national titles, including victories in the 100-metre backstroke, 100-metre freestyle and 100-metre butterfly, becoming just the second Canadian to win three different strokes at a single national trials.
“This team has a really nice mix of experienced athletes and swimmers who have earned their first opportunity to race on a stage like this,” Swimming Canada high-performance director John Atkinson said in a release. “Pan Pacs will be an important test as we continue building toward the Los Angeles Olympics.”
Lorne Wigginton is also part of the team after rewriting the Canadian record books in Montreal. The 26-year-old broke the country’s longest-standing men’s swimming record in the 400m individual medley.
“Every summer I have the goal to represent Canada again,” Wigginton said. “It’s a great feeling to be named to the team. Every time feels the same as the first.”
Brittany MacLean Campbell & Devin Heroux outline the athletes named to both the Pan Pacific and Para Pan Pacific championships in August. And we hear from Nicholas Bennett, Ingrid Wilm & Taylor Ruck on the final night of trials.
The Paralympic squad is led by veterans Tess Routliffe and Nicholas Bennett, while Aurélie Rivard returns to international competition after stepping away last season to complete law school.
Rivard won three events at trials to earn her place on the team.
Other medal-winning Para athletes on the team include: Nicolas-Guy Turbide of Quebec City, Fernando Lu of Burnaby, B.C., and Sebastian Massabie, of Surrey, B.C., all of whom set Canadian records in their respective events.
“I’m looking forward to cheering them on and seeing what we can all do,” Routliffe said. “The new generation are very positive and really strong.”
The Pan Pacific Championships begin Aug. 10 with open-water competition before pool racing runs Aug. 12-15 in Irvine, Calif. The Para Pan Pacific Championships follow from Aug. 28-30 in Walnut, Calif.
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