2024 U SPORTS SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- March 7-9, 2024
- Pointe-Claire Aquatic Centre – Pointe-Claire, Quebec.
- Defending Champions:
- Women – Toronto (2x)
- Men – UBC (6x)
- Start Times: 9:30 am prelims/5:30 pm finals (ET)
- SCM (25 meters) Prelims/LCM (50 meters) Finals
- Meet Central
- Entries
- Live Results
- Live Stream
Canadian university national titles will be up for grabs this weekend as the 2024 U SPORTS Swimming Championships run Thursday through Saturday in Pointe-Claire, Quebec.
The event runs as short course prelims and long course finals.
WOMEN’S PREVIEW
The Toronto women are the two-time defending champions, having topped runner-up UBC by 169.5 points last season.
Given that the entire season is contested in short course meters, it’s difficult to accurately forecast how things will play out with the meet being long course for the finals sessions.
However, there are several names to watch, including Toronto’s Ainsley McMurray, who comes in as defending champion in multiple events.
McMurray is the reigning gold medalist in the 50 and 100 free and the top swimmer in SCM this season in the 50. She’ll also benefit from the absence of Emma O’Croinin, who has not entered as the reigning champion in three events.
Another Toronto swimmer to watch for is Haley Klenk, who comes in as the defending champion in the 50 back and the top returner in the 200 back, having placed 2nd last year. She was also the runner-up in the 100 back last year to UVIC’s Lauren Crisp, who will be in the field.
Western’s Shona Branton has been making noise in recent months with her swims in the long course pool, making her a top candidate to sweep the breaststroke events. Branton won the 100-meter title last year, and should move up from her 2nd place finish in the 50 breast and 4th place finish in the 200 breast from 2023.
For UBC, they also have defending champions returning in Emma Spence (200 breast), Eloise Allen (50 fly) and Anna Dumont-Belanger (200 IM), while Nina Mollin will defend for Toronto in the 400 IM.
The most recent U SPORTS rankings (not SwimSwam picks):
- UBC
- Toronto
- Calgary
- McGill
- Western
- Montreal / Acadia
- –
- Lethbridge
- Manitoba
- Dalhousie
MEN’S PREVIEW
On the men’s side, UBC comes in as the six-time defending champions, and it looks as though it’s full steam ahead for a seventh straight crown after winning last year by nearly 300 points.
The Thunderbirds have numerous elite options returning, including defending champions Hugh McNeill, who won the 100 and 200 back last year, and Brodie Young, the top finisher in 2023 in the 200 IM.
Other multi-event defending champions will be Toronto’s Gabe Mastromatteo, Calgary’s Stephen Calkins and McGill’s Pablo Collin.
Mastromatteo won the 50 and 100 breaststroke last season, while Calkins stormed to a dominant showing with wins in the 50 free, 100 free and 50 fly.
Collin, who will be racing in front of his home crowd, is the reigning champion in the 200 and 400 free.
Toronto will also have returning winners in the form of Quinn Matteis (1500 free), Michael Andrew Sava (200 fly) and Jacob Gallant (400 IM).
Other names to watch for include Toronto’s Andrew Herman and Benjamin Loewen, along with York’s Eric Ginzburg, who all had standout showings at the Ontario Championships in February.
The most recent U SPORTS rankings (not SwimSwam picks):
- UBC
- Toronto
- Calgary
- McGill
- Alberta
- Ottawa
- Waterloo
- Lethbridge
- Western
- McMaster
The meet will be streamed live on CBC Gem, cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports App and the CBC Sports YouTube channel.
Several of these swimmers have a good chance of making the Olympic team so with finals being LC, it will be a good chance to see where they are at before Trials.
I’m looking forward to the showdowns between Shona Branton and Alexanne LePage in the women’s breaststroke events