See all of our 2024 Swammy Awards here.
Although many of Canada’s top swimmers currently train outside of the country, there were still some key members of the country’s Olympic team training on home soil and delivering some impressive results.
Greg Arkhurst, the head coach of Club Aquatique Montreal Natation (CAMO), earns the Canadian Coach of the Year honor for 2024 after his success coaching one of Canada’s top performers this year, Mary-Sophie Harvey.
Harvey recently closed out a phenomenal year at the Short Course World Championships in Budapest, winning three medals and setting lifetime bests in five events.
The 25-year-old credits Arkhurst with revitalizing her career.
“When I started with Greg I was a little bit lost on what I could still achieve in swimming,” said Harvey, according to the Canadian Swimming Coaches Association (CSCA). “I thought my good years were behind me. He made me believe I was not done and I could still accomplish stuff I can be proud of.
“It was good I trusted him in that. We have a really good relationship. I have full trust in him and he trusts me. That’s why it’s so great right now. I’m glad I kept swimming because I think the good years are ahead of me.”
Harvey qualified for her second Olympic team at the Canadian Trials in May, and despite failing to reach the podium in Paris, followed up with an exceptional Olympic performance with four 4th-place finishes.
Harvey placed 4th in the women’s 200 freestyle, resetting her lifetime best in the final in 1:55.29, and she also led off the Canadian women’s 4×200 free relay that placed 4th. She had preliminary duties on the women’s 4×100 free and 4×100 medley relays that ended up finishing 4th.
Harvey followed up by finishing 5th overall in the 2024 World Cup series standings, winning the women’s 400 free once and the 400 IM twice during the three-stop circuit.
At Short Course Worlds, she was on the best form of her career, setting new Canadian Records in the women’s 200 free (1:51.49) and 100 IM (57.04), the former also marking a new Americas Record and the latter a Commonwealth Record.
Harvey dropped nearly two seconds in that 200 free swim to rank #6 all-time and win the silver medal, while she took off 1.90 seconds in the 400 free (3:54.88) to claim bronze. Her record swim in the 100 IM placed her 4th, and she was also 4th in the 200 IM (2:04.30) and 400 IM (4:26.09) while winning three more medals on relays with some quick splits in the 50 free (23.51) and 100 free (52.40 flat-start/51.49 with a takeover).
Arkhurst developing Harvey as a true all-around swimmer at this point of her career was paramount for the success Canada experienced on the relays in Budapest.
According to CSCA, once in Paris, Akhurst also worked with two first-time Olympians, Jeremy Bagshaw and Patrick Hussey. The pair of Games debutants both raced on the Canadian men’s 4×200 freestyle relay, which finished 14th.
Arkhurst also coached other CAMO swimmers to individual gold medals at the Canadian Championships in July as Hocine Feddag won the 100 freestyle for the 19& over age group, and Loic Courville-Fortin won the 50 backstroke. Henri Vaillancourt (14-15s 100 free, 100 fly), Ali Sayed (16-18s 100 free), and Edouard Duffy (19& over 400 free) added wins for CAMO as well, and are primarily coached by Claude St-Jean.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
- Scott Talbot, HPC Vancouver – Talbot put three swimmers on the Canadian Olympic team in 2024, with Finlay Knox qualifying for his second Games and Blake Tierney and Emma O’Croinin doing so for the first time. Knox broke the Canadian Record in the men’s 200 IM (1:56.07) at the Olympic Trials and then finished 8th in Paris to go along with contributions on three different relays. Tierney won the 100 back in a best time (53.48) and then set a new National Record in the 200 back (1:56.74) at the Trials, landing his first Olympic berth. He was 16th in the 100 back and 19th in the 200 back in Paris and swam in the men’s medley relay final (and mixed prelims). O’Croinin hit a PB of 1:57.86 in the women’s 200 free at the Trials to qualify for the 4×200 relay in Paris, where she swam a prelim leg, and the team ultimately finished 4th. Before the Olympic Trials, Knox won an upset world title in the 200 IM at the 2024 Worlds in Doha, and then in December, closed out the year at Short Course Worlds with a pair of medals, including individual bronze in the 200 IM, again in National Record fashion. Tierney also competed at both World Championship meets, setting a PB of 53.65 in the 100 back (at the time), leading off the Canadian men’s 4×100 medley relay in Doha, and then broke the Canadian Record in the SCM 100 back at SC Worlds, clocking 49.39 in the final to finish 5th.
- Dave Johnson, Cascade Swim Club – Johnson, a three-time winner of this award, sent three swimmers to the Olympics in 2024, with Yuri Kisil qualifying for his third Canadian Olympic team, Rebecca Smith making her second, and Ingrid Wilm landing her first Olympic berth. Prior to that, Wilm won three bronze medals (two individually) at the Worlds in Doha, while Smith won a pair of relay bronzes. After all three qualified at the Canadian Olympic Trials in May, Wilm was an individual finalist in the women’s 100 back (6th), Kisil contributed on the men’s 4×100 free relay that finished 6th, and Smith finished 24th in the women’s 100 fly in what was her lone swim in Paris. Kisil and Wilm then performed exceptionally well at Short Course Worlds, with Wilm walking away with five medals and Kisil earning one. Wilm showed off her versatility, throwing down some blistering freestyle splits on the Canadian relays due to the relatively thin roster. At the Canadian Championships, Cascade’s Cole Pratt set a best time en route to winning a national title in the men’s 19 & over 200 free, while Liam Weaver won the 50 free.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
- 2023 Swammy: Carl Simonson
- 2022 Swammy: Ryan Mallette
- 2021 Swammy: Ben Titley
- 2020 Swammy: Tom Johnson
- 2019 Swammy: Tom Johnson
- 2018 Swammy: Ben Titley
- 2017 Swammy: Ben Titley
- 2016 Swammy: Ben Titley
- 2015 Swammy: Ryan Mallette
- 2014 Swammy: Tom Johnson
- 2013 Swammy: Randy Bennett
Neither Bagshaw or Patrick Hussey are a a product of Arkhurst; I don’t think Bagshaw has done a single practice with him outside of staging camps. I’m assuming that misunderstanding is what caused this pick over Talbot, who seems like an easy winner last season (if we’re not putting Arckey into consideration).
Seems kind of odd to not even mention any of the coaches of the Canadian swimmers who won Olympic medals…even though they themselves aren’t Canadian I don’t really see why that matters? The Swammy for European Coach of the year went to a Brazilian in 2022 and Canadian in 2021. Heck, even Bernardino won the Swammy for African coach of the year
Arckey
Not Canadian
Brent may not be Canadian but he has been coaching Canada’s greatest swimmer of all time over the last two plus years helping her to reach levels of historic proportions that we have never witnessed before for a Canadian swimmer male or female.
Ilya Kharun mentioned in an interview on another podcast that during the buildup to Paris when they were training in France that Brent was helping with Summer, himself and two other swimmers from Ohio State which clearly shows he was doing whatever he could to help Team Canada prepare for the Olympics.
Obviously Greg and Scott did great work with their swimmers in 2024 especially MSH and Finlay Knox and are very deserving of honourable mentions… Read more »
as Ben Titley once said, anyone could coach SM and she would be still be blowing doors off.
I believe his words were “a paper bag could successfully coach SM”
I don’t disagree. But I think that the Canadian coaches awards should go to Canadian coaches.
Does that mean Mel Marshal won’t be eligible for Australian coach of the year if she is wildly successful? Nesty wasn’t eligible for US coach of year until he become US citizen ( no idea when he did that, but I think he is now). What’s the kind of criteria if it’s not coaching that countries athletes.
Are you suggesting Brent Arckey should have been the award winner?