The University of Toronto Varsity Blues have singed Osvald Nitski, who can arguably be described by some as the top recruit coming out of Ontario for the 2015-2016 season.
With some already stellar additions to next year’s roster, Nitski furthers the depth with his abilities to swim almost everything, however his speciality is the 200m butterfly where he has international experience.
At the 2014 Junior Pan Pacific Championships, Nitski was a finalist in the 200m fly. He’s earned plenty of medals at some of the top competitions across Canada, including six golds from this year’s Eastern Canadian Championships.
Most recently he swam at the 2015 Team Canada Trials, where his best finish was fifth in the prelims in the 200m fly with a 2:01.26. He went on to finish 9th overall in finals. At the competition he swam breaststroke, IM, and freestyle as well to prove just how versatile he can be.
“Osvald’s versatility will be a huge advantage in university swimming where dual meets necessitate flexible team line ups,” said UofT head coach Byron MacDonald.
Nitski is already very familiar with Byron MacDonald, Linda Kiefer, and the UofT varsity program having trained their last summer. Although he hails from the Oakville Aquatic Club under Sean Baker, who has produced countless age-group stars, Nitski prepared for last summer’s junior Pan Pacs with MacDonald.
“He trained with our swimmers to prepare for the Junior PanPacs—the fact that he did so well was obvious that he can flourish under our program.”
When asked why he picked UofT, Nitski said,”I chose UofT because it’s a really good school, especially for engineering. Also I had the opportunity to train with the team last summer and I really enjoyed it. The team’s great and so are Byron and Linda. I’m looking forward to training with them because I know that we’re going to be focusing on long course racing and making some big teams. I’m sure that with all of us working together I’ll be able to reach my goals.”
Nitski will be studying chemical engineering, taking benefits from Toronto’s prestige in both academics and athletics.
