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
- Entries
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The University of Toronto will play host to the 2025 U SPORTS Swimming Championships this weekend as the Varsity Blues aim to defend their titles for both men and women after pulling off an upset sweep last year.
One significant change to the format this year is that prelims and finals will be short course meters after last year’s finals were contested in the long course pool.
WOMEN’S PREVIEW
The Toronto women extended their national title streak to three last year after coming from behind to run down UBC on the final day, and the Varsity Blues will be aiming for four in a row this season racing on home soil.
Some of the key swimmers in the women’s field are defending champions Nina Mollin, Bridget Burton, Alexanne Lepage, Shona Branton and Anna Dumont-Belanger, who all won multiple individual gold medals last year.
However, the real game-changer in this year’s meet will be UBC first-year Kayla Sanchez, who swept the women’s 50 free (24.43), 100 free (51.74), 50 fly (25.88) and 200 IM (2:09.75) at the Canada West Championships in November and will be favored to go four-for-four in her first U SPORTS Championships.
In addition to Sanchez, UBC has a pair of returning gold medalists in Burton and Dumont-Belanger, with Burton having swept the backstroke events last year and Dumont-Belanger topping the 200 free and 800 free.
Burton set new best times en route to winning the 100 back (58.64) and 200 back (2:08.54) at the Canada West Championships, and she was .01 off in the 50 back (27.68) as she swept the backstroke events.
Dumont-Belanger was the runner-up to teammate Emma O’Croinin in the women’s 200, 400 and 800 free at the Canada West Championships in November. O’Croinin won all three of those events at the U SPORTS Championships in 2023, but didn’t race in last year’s meet. O’Croinin and Dumont-Belanger form a lethal 1-2 punch for UBC in the distance free events that should result in a big chunk of points in the team race.
Last year’s winner in the 50 fly, UBC’s Eloise Allen, hasn’t raced since early November but is expected to be in the field this week as well. In addition to winning the 50 fly, Allen was 2nd in the 50 back and 3rd in both the 50 and 100 breast last season, so look for her to produce big points for the Thunderbirds.
For the defending champions from Toronto, third-year Mollin comes in as the defending champion in the women’s 100 and 200 fly and the 200 IM, and is coming off sweeping the 200 breast (2:32.34), 200 fly (2:12.39), 200 IM (2:13.99) and 400 IM (4:44.60) at the OUA Championships in February.
Toronto’s other top scorer from last year, Ainsley McMurray, has graduated and won’t be defending her titles in the 50 and 100 free.
Western’s Branton won the 50 and 100 breast last year, but notably only swam one preliminary last month at OUAs in the 100 breast before scratching the rest of the meet. She owns a lifetime best of 1:05.70 from January 2024, and has been as fast as 1:06.28 this season (November).
Branton’s primary rival in the breaststroke events, Calgary’s Lepage, is the defending champion in the 200 breast and 400 IM and is coming off a sweep of the 50, 100 and 200 breast and 400 IM at the Canada West Championships in November. The second-year set new bests in all four events at the Canada West meet: 50 breast (30.20), 100 breast (1:05.30), 200 breast (2:22.31) and 400 IM (4:39.50). In December, she lowered her 200 breast PB to 2:21.79 at SC Worlds in Budapest.
Official USPORTS Women’s Rankings – Feb. 24, 2025
- UBC, 1466
- Calgary, 744
- Toronto, 715
- McGill, 664
- Western, 394
- Victoria, 214
- Ottawa, 195
- Alberta, 168
- Lethbridge, 156
- Brock, 154
MEN’S PREVIEW
Similar to the women’s side with Sanchez and O’Croinin, the UBC men have some key additions from last year that could turn the tide in their favor.
The main newcomer for the Thunderbirds is world champion and Olympian Finlay Knox, who is coming off winning bronze in the men’s 200 IM at the Short Course World Championships in December.
Knox swept the 100 back, 100 breast, 50 fly and 100 fly at the Canada West Championships, and given his ability across a wide range of events—he owns the Canadian SCM Record in the 50 back (23.03), 50 breast (26.30) and 200 IM (1:50.90)—Knox will be favored to go undefeated at the championships no matter what he swims.
Another Canadian Record holder UBC has in its arsenal is Blake Tierney, who sat out of university competition last season but returns having set a new national mark in the 100 back at SC Worlds in 49.39. The runner-up in the 50 and 100 back and 3rd in the 200 IM in 2023, when finals were long course, Tierney will be a frontrunner in the backstroke events and the 200 IM, and likely the favorite in at least the 100 back.
The backstroke events figure to be pretty stacked, with Toronto’s Andrew Herman, Ben Loewen and Benjamin Winterborn all coming off solid showings at the OUA Championships, with Winterborn winning the 50 back (24.79) and Loewen claiming the 100 back (52.86) and 200 back (1:55.40).
Herman was the runner-up last year at U SPORTS in the 50 and 100 back in the LCM finals after qualifying 1st out of both in the SCM prelims (24.03/51.73).
Last year’s winner in the 50 back, Lethbridge’s Christopher Alexander, is not in the field, while the defending champion in the 100 and 200 back, UBC’s Hugh McNeill, will be racing but has tended to be better in long course.
For the Toronto Varsity Blues, they have a loaded group of defending champions led by Loewen, Jacob Gallant, Bill Dongfang and Liam Weaver.
Loewen won the 200 IM and stood on the podium in three other events (200 fly, 400 IM and 200 back) last year, and is coming off sweeping the 100 back, 200 back, 100 fly and 200 fly at OUAs.
Gallant won the 400 IM last year over Loewen, Dongfang swept the 100 and 200 fly with Loewen 2nd in the latter, and Weaver comes in as the defending champ in the 50 free, having won it at OUAs last month in 22.15 (21.76 best time).
One swimmer who poses a threat to Weaver in the 50 free, Dongfang in the 100 fly and 100 free defending champ Stephen Calkins of Calgary is Memorial University (Newfoundland) second-year Chris Weeks, last year’s winner in the 50 fly who was on fire at the AUS Championships in February.
Weeks fired off best times in the 50 free (21.87), 100 free (47.81) and 100 fly (53.74) at the meet, and clocked 23.26 in the 50 fly to near his PB from November of 23.06.
In the breaststroke events, the defending champ in all three is Ottawa’s Hugo Lemesle, a French third-year who won the 50, 100 and 200 breast last year in the long course pool. In short course, he owns bests of 27.39 in the 50, 59.81 in the 100 and 2:09.90 in the 200. That should make him a favorite to repeat in the 200, but it’s less clear in the sprints with UBC’s Knox in the mix, depending on what he races.
The other returning champion is UBC’s Olivier Risk in the 1500 free, while McGill’s Pablo Collin (200 free) and UBC’s Liam Clawson-Honeyman (400 free) have both graduated and won’t be defending.
One swimmer for McGill who will be racing is first-year Loic Courville-Fortin, who is coming in riding some momentum after winning the 100 back (53.27), 200 back (1:57.16) and 200 IM (1:59.33) at the RSEQ Championships in February.
Official USPORTS Men’s Rankings – Feb. 24, 2025
- UBC, 1235
- Toronto, 864
- Calgary, 777
- McGill, 529
- Alberta, 337
- Western, 283
- Ottawa, 227
- Victoria, 226
- Waterloo, 171
- Montreal, 164
