CALGARY, AB (09 APRIL 2019) – The Canadian Swimming Trials in Toronto, Ontario have come to a conclusion with Cole Pratt, 16, being named to Canada’s senior national team that will compete this summer at the 18th FINA World Championships in Gwangju, Korea.
Pratt, the youngest male member of the team to qualify for the team by swimming under the Canadian qualifying standard (the FINA"A" standard) in the 200m backstroke, swam a 1:58.07 to finish second behind Markus Thormeyer of Vancouver. The time by Pratt last week was the 8th fastest time n the world for 2019 and a Canadian national age group (NAG) record in the boys 15-17 age category by two full seconds. Pratt was one of only four (4) male swimmers in the competition by two full seconds. Pratt was one of only four (4) male simmers in the competition to meet Swimming Canada's rigorous individual event qualifying criteria which he did in the 200m backstroke event, narrowly missing the standard in both the 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley. Cole's older sister, Halle (Western 2017), will be in Korea at the same time competing at the same world championships as a part of the Canadian national artistic (synchro) swimming team.
Sebastian Somerset, 18, and graduating this year from Rundle College, competed well enough to earn himself a position on Canada's junior team that will be off to Budapest at the end of the summer for the World Junior Championships at the end of August. Those junior championships bring together the world's very best 18&U male and 17&U female swimmers once every two years and are the preeminent junior swimming event in the world. Somerset made the team on the strength of his 100m backstroke (6th) and 200m backstroke (7th) performances that rank him as one of the top junior-age backstroker's in the country. Sebastian also picked up a bronze medal in the 50m backstroke event in Toronto. Somerset previously competed for Canada at the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina in October of 2018 and at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Fiji in August of 2018.
Morgan Bird, a student at Mount Royal University, and a mainstay inside the Canadian Paralympic swim team was also named to represent Canada this summer. She was named to the Canadian team that will compete at the Para Swimming World Championships in the fall. The exact date and site locations has yet to be determined as it was previously scheduled to be held in Malaysia this summer before the country was stripped of the event.
Head Coach & Director of Swimming, David M. Johnson, has been named as a staff member to both the World Championship and World Junior Championship team and will bring his experience of coaching at eight (8) Olympic games teams.
Somerset & Pratt along with their teammates are off again this weekend to Edmonton, where they are competing at Canadian Western Championships looking to solidify their performances from this past weekend’s Trials meet while also giving them an opportunity to compete in different events that what they were able to swim in Toronto.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT CASCADE CLUB MANAGER, JASEN PRATT, AT 403-263-SWIM (7946) or 403-617-5195 (cell).
Jasen@CascadeSwimming.com
The Cascade Swim Club has been one of Calgary's premier youth sport organizations for the past 50 years and celebrated its 50th Anniversary beginning in June of 2017. The focus of the program is competitive swimming excellence but our athletes learn about much more than just swimming. Through the club's values of Respect, Integrity & Commitment, our program teaches an athletic lifestyle, self-discipline, goal setting, teamwork and time management, all in an environment where each individual is encouraged to achieve their personal best.
Cascade is perennially one of the top team in Canada most recently winning the 2018 Western Canadian Championships and the Men's team title at the 2018 Canadian Junior Championships. Our membership of more than 500 includes swimmers from our introductory LTCS (Learn-To-Competitive-Swim) program at 4 years-old all the way through to our varsity graduates.
Cascade receives support and works in partnership with ARENA Canada, Parks Foundation Calgary, Team Aquatic Supplies, Repsol Sport Centre, Swim Alberta & Swimming Canada. The Swim Alberta "High Performance Club" & "Alberta First" Programs support for these athletes in many of these endeavors bringing much needed resources to the development of the athletes. Many of these programs initiatives are also supported by Swimming Canada and the NextGen programs that they offer.