Toronto Ontario

Oct 28-30 – Toronto, Canada: FINA 2022 World Cup Series (Leg 2/3)

FINA (now called World Aquatics) holds their Swimming World Cup Series every year, with three stops in three different countries. This year they took it up north! Racing at home is one of the best feelings ever. A home crowd, a pool I am familiar with, and racing beside some of my best friends and teammates makes what I love to do, that much better. Some of the fastest swimmers from all over the world come and travel to the three legs of the World Cup to rack up as many points as possible and a chance to win prize money.

The first stop of this year’s World Cup was in Berlin, Germany, just the week prior. The pool venue is called Schwimm - und Sprunghalle im Europasportpark (SSE). It was originally built for the 2000 Berlin Olympic bid. I would have loved to have travelled there but my schedule didn’t allow.

The second leg and the first meet I went to was held at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre (TPASC), in Scarborough. The pool was built and got its name in 2015 when the City of Toronto hosted the Pan American Games. It is an extremely up-to date facility, and it is in my top 3 favourite pools I’ve ever swam in around the world. For those unfamiliar with the sport of swimming most elite level competition pools have eight or ten lanes that can be used for 25m short course or 50m long course racing, and a diving tank for diving competitions.

Although TPASC is located in Scarborough, I was able to make a day trip into downtown Toronto and see the city again. We are definitely in Toronto’s rainy season, but the city did not disappoint.

Other than swimming, I had a few fun activities planned out of the water for my trip. FINA and Swimming Canada organized a Curling Event with the Richmond Hill Curling Club and invited me along with 7 other swimmers from around the world. FINA tries to bring swimmers together and experience something that’s special to the host country, and this trip we learned how to curl – and trust me, it is much harder than it looks. I was teamed up with 3 World Record holders, Louise Hansson of Sweden, Thomas Ceccon of Italy, and Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong, along with Kylie Masse, Javier Acevedo, Finlay Knox, and Bailey Andison of Canada. I of course, had to take all my foreign friends out for a nice Tim Horton’s coffee and breakfast – a must on anyone’s to-do list (for me too) whenever I come back home.