2025 U SPORTS SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- March 6-8, 2025
- Toronto, Ontario
- Defending Champions:
- Women – Toronto (3x)
- Men – Toronto (1x)
- Start Times: 9:30 am prelims / 5:30 pm finals (ET)
- SCM (25 meters)
- Meet Central
- Live Results on Meet Mobile
- Live Stream
After dominating the competition throughout the three-day meet, the UBC Thunderbirds extended their lead on both the men’s and women’s sides on day 3 of the 2025 U Sports Championships to secure the overall championship team titles on Saturday.
The Thunderbird women racked up 1472 points overall to claim the top spot, breaking Toronto’s three year winning streak, while the men defeated defending champion Toronto with 1305.5 points. Their victories marked the 25th national championship banner in program history for the women and the 19th for the men.
Continuing to represent for UBC was Paris Olympian Finlay Knox, who picked up two more gold medals and U Sports meet records. Knox prevailed in the 200 fly, posting a lifetime best time of 1:53.67 and breaking the former championship record of 1:54.56 set by Coleman Allen back in 2015. His performance also shaved .88 off of his previous best time.
Knox joined teammates Blake Tierney, Wells Ginzer and Joel Blanco to secure the victory in the 400 medley relay in 3:29.52. The Thunderbirds shaved .22 off of the meet record, which Tierney helped set back in 2022, as they raced into the wall over two seconds ahead of Toronto (3:31.82). Earlier in the session, Tierney won the 200 back in 1:53.27, which marked his 4th gold medal of the meet and 2nd in the backstroke events after winning the 100 on Friday.
Toronto’s Ben Loewen picked up three silver medals for the Varsity Blues during the final session. He took the runner-up spot in both the 200 fly (1:54.46) and the 200 back (1:55.37), both right around his best times, and was a part of the 2nd-place team in the 400 medley relay..
Ottawa’s Hugo Lemesle turned in yet another strong performance in the breaststroke, this time winning the 50 breast. He posted a time of 27.14, shaving .25 off of his lifetime best, to narrowly beat out Alberta’s Garrett Brendzan (27.35). Rounding out the podium was Calgary’s Stephen Moore, who turned in a 27.53 to take 3rd.
Eric Ginzburg closed out his weekend of racing with another top performance, winning the 100 free in a lifetime best 48.16. The York swimmer narrowly out-touched Memorial’s Chris Weeks, who secured the runner-up spot in 18.18. Ginzburg’s victory in the 100 free marked his 4th gold medal of the competition, having won every event that he contested.
UBC’s Kayla Sanchez dominated much of the women’s competition throughout the meet, bringing home seven gold medals and two U Sports records over the course of the weekend. Sanchez picked up two of those victories Saturday night, winning the 100 free in 52.48, just .02 off of the meet record. Teammate Emma O’Croinin claimed the runner-up spot in 54.48, which is right around her lifetime best.
Sanchez was back in action later to anchor the 400 medley relay; she split a 52.81 on the free leg to help secure the championship title for the Thunderbirds alongside teammates Bridget Burton, Eloise Allen and Una Borchgrevink. Their overall time of 3:59.16 was over 4.5 seconds faster than Calgary, who took 2nd in 4:03.89.
Calgary brought home two gold medals on the women’s side on night three thanks to Alexanne Lepage and Hannah Johnsen. Lepage prevailed in the 50 breast, racing into the wall in 30.49 to complete a sweep of the breaststroke events; the victory marked her 4th win of the meet. Johnsen won the 200 back, racing into the wall over two seconds ahead of runner-up Angelica Bath (2:12.27) and posting a time of 2:09.94 to bring home the title.
The remaining gold medal of the night went to Toronto’s Nina Mollin, who claimed the title in the 200 fly in 2:13.29, narrowly beating out McGill’s Naomie Lo (2:14.01). Mollin previously won the 100 fly and 200 IM, with her performance on Saturday marking her 3rd individual victory at the championship.
Major Championship Awards
Women:
- Women’s Athlete of the Meet Award: Kayla Sanchez, UBC
- Women’s Rookie of the Year: Raphaëlle Tremblay, Laval
- Women’s FOX 40 Coach of the Year Award: Peter Carpenter, McGill
- Women’s Community Service Award: Marcella Whelan, Memorial
Men:
- Men’s Athlete of the Meet Award: Finlay Knox, UBC
- Men’s Rookie of the Year: Nathan Thomas, Toronto
- Men’s FOX 40 Coach of the Year Award: Paul Birmingham, Alberta
- Men’s Community Service Award: Erik Leinseisen, McGill
Final Team Standings
Women:
- UBC – 1472
- McGill – 936.5
- Calgary – 920.5
- Toronto – 708.5
- Alberta – 366
- Western – 264
- Victoria – 231.5
- Ottawa – 219.5
- McMaster – 198.5
- Guelph – 196
- Lethbridge – 195.5
- Dalhousie – 176
- Brock – 170
- Laval – 168
- Montreal – 158
- Manitoba – 148.5
- Waterloo – 143
- Acadia – 80
- Sherbrooke – 8
- UNB – 2
Men:
- UBC – 1305.5
- Toronto – 1078
- Calgary – 860
- McGill – 754.5
- Alberta – 412
- Western – 316
- Victoria – 267.5
- Ottawa – 260
- Waterloo – 224
- Lethbridge – 166.5
- Laval – 146.5
- York – 128
- McMaster – 117
- Laurier – 108
- Memorial – 86.5
- Dalhousie – 82
- Montreal – 68
- Manitoba – 65
- Sherbrooke – 58
- Carleton – 51.5
- Regina – 50
- UNB – 38
- Acadia – 34
- Brock – 28.5
- UQTR – 4
