2025 CANADIAN SWIMMING TRIALS
- Saturday, June 7 – Thursday, June 12, 2025
- Victoria, British Columbia
- Victoria Saanich Commonwealth Place
- LCM (50 meters)
- World Championship Selection Criteria
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Prelims Live Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2
- Finals Live Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2
Para swimming star Aurélie Rivard has announced that she won’t compete at this summer’s World Championships, choosing instead to focus on academic pursuits.
Rivard, 29, has opted to focus on completing her law degree at Université Laval.
“I’ve always put swimming first,” said Rivard, who is competing at the Canadian Swimming Trials running in Victoria through Thursday. “I’ve taken semesters off and built my life around the sport. But at this stage, with just under a year left in law school and a graduation target of April 2026, I didn’t want to push it back again.”
Rivard is one of Canada’s most successful Paralympians in history, having won 13 total medals, including 6 gold. She made her debut at the 2012 Paralympic Games, and most recently swam at the Paris Paralympic Games, winning silver in the 100 free (S10) and bronze in the 50 free (S10).
Rivard will swim those two races this week at Canada’s World Championship Trials, with the 100 free on Monday and the 50 free on Tuesday.
She shied away from declaring this a retirement, though.
“I’m still training, still enjoying the process,” said Rivard, who trains with Marc-André Pelletier at CNQ in Quebec City. “LA 2028 is still in the back of my mind. It’s my fifth cycle, and I want to approach it slowly and thoughtfully, without burning out. I was excited about Worlds – it just didn’t work out schedule-wise this time.”
She is also a 6-time World Champion.
In addition to her work in the pool, Rivard has been one of the faces of the movement to get Canadian Paralympians medal bonuses, which was achieved last year for the first time after a $CAD4 million private donation.
The 2025 World Para Swimming Championships will be held from September 21-27 in Singapore. At the last edition in 2023, Canada finished 7th on the medals table with 9 gold and 19 total medals.
