Five Storylines To Follow At The 2026 Canadian Swimming Trials

2026 Bell Canadian Swimming Trials

• July 5-9, 2026
• Montreal, Canada — Montreal Olympic Pool
• LCM (50 Meters)
• Selection Criteria
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results

The 2026 Bell Canadian Swimming Trials kick off this morning, with swimmers gunning for one of the 52 available spots on the roster for the Pan Pacific Games. Summer McIntosh has pared down her schedule and has been lightning fast at Canadian Trials throughout her career, including having one of the best single-meet performances in history at the 2025 edition.

However, there are other avenues of intrigue to keep an eye on over the five days of competition, including a potential solution for the women’s medley relay breaststroke woes and some NCAA stars looking to set the world ablaze after a successful college season.

Will The Record Fall

What record? The record. Summer McIntosh was just three years old when Zige Liu demolished Jessica Schipper‘s 200 fly world record with a swim of 2:01.81 at the 2009 Chinese National Games, so in some sense she has been chasing the mark her entire life.

Since Liu’s swim there have been five other swims under Schipper’s previous record of 2:03.41. All five have been courtesy of a certain Summer McIntosh, and three of those have come in the last 12 months.

She clocked 2:02.26 at this meet last year, falling slightly behind Liu’s pace on the final 50 after touching in 1:30.19 at the 150 mark. McIntosh came even closer at the 2025 World Championships, posting a time of 2:01.99 for just the second swim under 2:02 in history.

It was the final 50 again, where Liu split 31.61 compared to McIntosh’s 31.99, that saw the record slip away. That may not be an issue this year, with McIntosh adding some more speed to her arsenal as evidenced by a 57.01 100 fly at the U.S. Open in December.

She has not been reserved about her goals in this event. This is the record she wants more than any other, and it is one that she is targeting here. The women’s 200 fly will be her first event, coming on the first day of competition, and she will be fresh. In my opinion, she gets it.

Split Focus for Commonwealth Games Athletes

Although this meet is a selection meet, the selections are for only one of the two major meets this summer. Canada announced their Commonwealth Games team all the way back in August 2025, containing just six men and six women, and with the Games kicking off in less than three weeks time they may not be targeting this meet quite as much.

The biggest names on the roster are Josh Liendo and Kyliee Masse, and the first of those will be absent entirely here, opting not to compete at the Pan Pacific Championships this year. The other 11 Commonwealth athletes will be in attendance at this meet.

Some of those, such as Masse and breaststroker Oliver Dawson, will not be in much danger of missing the Pan Pacific team, but others could need to be relatively close to the top of their game to do so. Delia Lloyd and Benjamin Loewen are ranked no higher than third in any of their events, and their performances this week will show how much they are prioritizing Commonwealths against the opportunity to compete at Pan Pacs.

LePage To Turn SCM Records Into LCM Performances?

Alexanne LePage burst onto the scene at the 2023 World Junior Championships, winning gold in the 100 breast (1:06.58) and 200 breast (2:24.70) with a pair of huge lifetime bests. Nearly three years those still stood as her PBs until she lowered them at the Canet stop of the Mare Nostrum tour in May.

That followed on from a successful U Sports Championships (SCM) in March, where she dropped the 100 breast mark to 1:04.11, and broke 30 seconds for the first time in 29.91.

Her Mare Nostrum results, clocking 1:06.42 in the 100 breast and 2:24.54 in the 200 breast, are an excellent indication that she is breaking through her plateau. LePage won the 100 breast last year at this meet in 1:06.87 and placed third in the 200 breast in 2:25.91, but goes in as the  favorite and top seed in both this year.

A big performance here could solve Canada’s breaststroke problems, and set her up as the go-to on the medley relay for years to come. She is in the form of her life right now, and may never have a better chance to seize that opportunity.

How Well Will NCAA Stars Convert Their College Swims To Meters?

Ella Jansen (Tennessee), Julie Brousseau (Florida), Lorne Wigginton (Michigan), Tristan Jankovics (Ohio State), Antoine Sauve (Michigan), and Ethan Ekk (Stanford) are just some of the Canadian swimmers who ripped up the NCAA this season. Jansen, Brousseau, Wigginton, and Jankovics all made at least one ‘A’ final at NCAAs, while Ekk scored in three events in his freshman season.

All six of those, as well as others like NCAA qualifier Francis Brennan, will be racing over the next few days. Yards to meters is always a difficult conversion – look at swimmers like Brendan Burns compared to Keaton Jones – but big drops in one does tend to correlate to big drops in the other.

Sauve had a fantastic Trials last season, breaking the Canadian 200 free record, but added fairly significantly at Worlds. Ekk did the opposite, nearly making the 400 free final in a huge lifetime best of 3:46.01.

Canada’s top-level depth has dipped a little on the world stage with the retirements of Maggie MacNeil and Sydney Pickrem, and as Penny Oleksiak, Taylor Ruck, and Kylie Masse have gotten older. The women’s 4×200 free relay, previously a surefire bronze, is now not in podium contention.

If a few of those NCAA swimmers can break out to an internationally elite level here, Canada could be looking at a bit of a golden age as it heads towards LA 2028. The top-level talent is already in place, but the depth could soon be better than ever before.

No Kharun Equals Opportunity In Men’s Butterfly

Canada had two of the top four swimmers in the 100 fly at the World Championships last season in Josh Liendo and Ilya Kharun, and Kharun won a pair of bronze medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Both swimmers also split sub-50 at the world championships last year, and with Kharun on fly, Liendo was able to slide over to the free leg on the record-setting men’s medley relay last summer.

Now, with Kharun switching allegiance to the U.S., where he has lived for most of his life, there is a vacancy in Canadian swimming. It would be a stretch to replace his individual output, but the medley relay may now need a flyer, especially so at Pan Pacs with no Liendo in attendance.

The fastest entrant in the 100 fly this year is Finlay Knox at 52.62. He has been faster, clocking 51.42 at the Canadian Olympic Trials in 2024, and with Oliver Dawson having emerged Knox is no longer required on the breaststroke leg.

However, Knox is still a 200 IM swimmer at heart. The rest of the field is currently some way back from him, with Filip Senc-Samardzic (52.82) the next fastest entrant by lifetime best. Patrick Hussey clocked 52.24 at this meet last summer but has not swum since the World University Games in July.

Eric Ginzburg (53.13), Nicholas Duncan (53.38), and Kai Lilenthal (53.39) will have their eyes on the prize in this event, while for Mark Aistov, who broke Josh Liendo‘s 14-year-old age group record with a 54.25 earlier in April, this may be a couple of years too early.