The University of Alberta announced Monday that it will cut its men’s and women’s swimming programs at the end of the 2024-25 season.
The school said the “difficult decision” was made due to both financial issues and complications stemming from there not being a competitive swimming facility on campus.
“We have made the difficult decision to end the University of Alberta’s swim program after the 2024/25 season,” U of A’s Deputy Provost of Students and Enrollment Melissa Padfield said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, due to the ongoing financial challenges and complications of not having a competitive swim facility on campus, a swim program is not viable for the U of A at this time.”
The Golden Bears (men) and Pandas (women) swim teams are coming off their best finishes in recent memory at the 2024 U SPORTS Championships this past March. The men’s team finished 7th, their highest finish since 2017, while the women placed 8th to crack the top 10 for the first time since 2019. It also marked the first time both the Bears and Pandas finished in the top 10 in the same year since 2017.
Padfield said the swimmers will continue to compete the rest of the season while being provided support from the university in pursuing options for next season if they opt to continue their competitive swimming careers and transfer elsewhere.
The University of Alberta campus is located in the provincial capital of Edmonton, and the team trains out of the Kinsmen Sports Centre, which is less than 3 kilometers away from campus.
The school has a pool on campus, located in the Van Vliet Center, which features a 25-meter pool.
Over the last four years, the varsity team has partnered with one of the best clubs in Canada, Edmonton Keyano Swim Club, to combine coaching and training efforts. Paul Birmingham currently serves as head coach of both programs.
The U of A swim programs have competed at the varsity level since 1948, with over 500 graduated alumni and 12 swimmers having been inducted to the school’s Sports Wall of Fame.
So far this season, the Golden Bears and Pandas had an alumni meet in mid-September and raced the October Opener two weeks ago. They’ll race the Odlum Brown Colleges Cup this weekend at UBC and will then take on the Canada West Championships two weeks later in Vancouver.
this will discordance athletes from attending UofA, would you want to attend a university that will cut your sport? Poor swimmers
No doubt that the Team saved money by sharing head coach and swim lanes with EKSC. They traveled usually two short trips and one Usport Champ. It would be interesting to see how the team budget spending compares to other U of A teams. I think it’s a scapegoating act trying to protect other. Why this is not a share cost exercise for all teams. Swimming has been bringing more medals home to Canada in the last three Olympics than any other sports. Very disappointing to see top 5 University in Canada with no swim team.
With an excellent coach and a top-notch facility, this is a pity. Most of the swimmers are self-funded and pay club fees. They share lanes and practice time with EKSC. Perhaps this could have been avoided if they had a smaller team with a higher percentage of USports qualifiers. But it was probably inevitable, as universities will do anything for profit and revenue nowadays. Unbelievable that a city of over a million people does not have a varsity swim team.
So disappointing to see this happen. I’m from (and still live in) the Edmonton area and have a hard time believing that the current arrangement was untenable. There’s no good reason that one of the 5 or 6 biggest cities in the country should be without a varsity program. Even though the on-campus pool isn’t great, the Kinsmen is very close by and one of the best facilities in the country.
The overall lack of transparency makes it seem like there’s something sketchy going on. I’d love to see a breakdown of what the swim team is actually costing the university compared to other teams like football…
Back in the day the Univ of Washington always had dual meets with Alberta if I remember correctly. The pool on campus worked just fine. Sad to read this…
Yes, I was on the University of Alberta team from ’80 to ’84 and we competed against strong domestic teams including UBC, Calgary, and Toronto as well as Washington, Arizona, Utah, and California teams at home and away. World Record Holders and Olympic Medalists competed for the team! Very sad!
This is beyond devastating. I honestly struggle to think how UofA can make this decision and expect to still be regarded as a legitimate top Canadian university. Swimming is one of the most popular sports in the world, seems bizarre that a major institution wouldn’t have a team.
Also wondering why is there no quote from anyone on the team? Any of the coaches or current swimmers? Did @SwimSwam reach out to them? Would love to know how to get involved to advocate for them – I doubt it’s too late to convince the uni to change their minds!
they were told the decision is final. they are devastated so i’m not surprised there is no quote.
Rumour has it They were told not to discuss on social media
maybe told not to talk to media
What a massive disappointment.
They were and have used the combined model with Keyano in the past back during Schoof’s time and I imagine others, what’s the change that’s made it incompatible now? … Because Kinsmen being “too far” has never been an issue. In fact having that facility right there is essentially the best set-up in the conference behind UBC. You can train on campus if you want to, sure the Butterdome isn’t amazing, but I’ve seen dual/tri meets held there…
Alberta’s age group programs produce more National teamers per capita than any other province, so to see the province lose one of only 3 senior programs for these swimmers to go to is terrible. Plus Paul… Read more »