Swimming Canada confirms Olympic trials in Toronto have green light
Event at Pan Am Sports Centre will take place from June 19-23
Canada's Olympic swim trials can proceed next month in Toronto, Swimming Canada announced Thursday.
The organization said in a release that Toronto Public Health has confirmed that the June 19-23 event can take place at the Pan Am Sports Centre under the exemption for high-performance sport in Ontario's stay-at-home order.
The trials are the primary means of selection for Canada's swim team for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.
They were originally scheduled for May 24-28 but were pushed back due to restrictions around the COIVD-19 pandemic.
The team had also originally planned a staging camp in Toyota, Japan in July ahead of the Games, but will instead gather in Vancouver before heading directly to Tokyo.
The team is the latest of some 50 delegations that have pulled out of pre-Olympic training camps — the majority due to concerns over the pandemic as Tokyo and other major cities remain under a state of emergency aimed to contain a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections.
Six swimmers were pre-selected to the Canadian Olympic team in January.
Kylie Masse of LaSalle, Ont., Penny Oleksiak of Toronto, Margaret Mac Neil of London, Ont., Taylor Ruck of Kelowna, B.C., Sydney Pickrem of Halifax and Markus Thormeyer of Newmarket, Ont., were chosen in events and distances in which they excel.
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