Team Canada is ready to go for gold at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
The roster of from Canada includes a number of athletes from the Calgary area.
Here’s a closer look at some of those podium hopefuls:
- Brett Walsh is a 30-year-old Calgarian who plays indoor volleyball. The setter won national championships with the University of Alberta Golden Bears in 2014 and 2015. He was also named the CIS Men’s Volleyball Player of the Year in 2016.
- Caeli McKay is an accomplished member of Canada’s diving team. The 25-year-old is a four-time Pan American Games medallist and she also won a medal at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships. McKay started diving at the age of six.
- Another Calgary member of the diving team to keep an eye on is Margo Erlam, who will compete in her first Olympic Games in Paris. Erlam won the women’s three-metre springboard event at the Canadian Diving Trials in May.
- Finlay Knox, who was born in England and now calls Okotoks home, is fresh off a gold medal in swimming at this year’s World Aquatics Championships. Knox also claimed five medals at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.
- Ingrid Wilm is anothertransplanted swimmer from England who lives in southern Alberta. The 26-year-old Calgarian took home bronze medals in the women’s 50-metre and 100-metre backstroke events, along with another bronze in the women’s 4 X 100-metre medley relay at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships.
- Swimmer Yuri Kisil competed in the 2016 Olympics after winning three medals at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto. The Calgarian came close to earning an Olympic medal at the 2020 Olympics in the men’s 4 X 100-metre freestyle relay, but he and his teammates finished fourth by tenths of a second.
- Lorne Wigginton won bronze at the 2023 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships before being named to Team Canada’s swimming roster for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. The 18-year-old Calgarian competes in freestyle and medley events.
- Eighteen-year-old Jonnie Newman will seek a spot on the podium in artistic swimming, an event she won a team bronze medal for at the 2023 Pan Am Games. Born in Grande Prairie and now living in Calgary, Newman joined the senior national team program in 2022.
- Canada’s water polo team includes Calgarian Rae Lekness, a 30-year-old who brings Pan Am Games experience from Santiago last year.
- Born in Victoria, B.C. and now living in Strathmore, Alberta, 35-year-old rower Jessica Sevick competed at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. She got her start in the sport when she was 26 through the Calgary Rowing Club.
- Calgarian Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski is a former alpine skier who switched to rowing after suffering a broken leg. The 33-year-old won gold in women’s eight rowing at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo despite having a broken collarbone from a bike crash that occurred about a month before those Olympics.
- Calgary-born rugby player Keyara Wardley made her Olympic debut in Tokyo four years ago. She started competing in rugby at the age of 16.
- Also competing in rugby is Canmore’s Krissy Scurfield. The 21-year-old represented Canada at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens and at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
- Joining the rugby sevens squad out of Calgary is Piper Logan, a 23-year-old winger who also took part in the 2022 Commonwealth Games and Rugby World Cup Sevens.
- Italian-born Michele Esercitato – who represented Canada at the 2023 ISSF World Championships – makes his Olympic debut in Paris in shooting. The 22-year-old calls Calgary home.
- Also shooting for gold is Tye Ikeda, who finished second in the men’s 50-metre rifle three positions at the Continental Championships in April of 2024. The Calgarian finished fourth in that event at the 2023 Pan Am Games.
- Athletics competitor Rory Linkletter become the second fastest Canadian marathoner when he set a personal best time of 2:08:01 at the Seville Marathon in February of this year. The 27-year-old is another athlete who makes his Olympic debut in Paris after representing Canada at the 2019 Pan Am Games in the 10,000-metre event.
- After winning gold in the team sprint at the 2022 Pan-Am Championships and bronze in the same event at the 2023 Pan-Am Games, Calgary track cyclist Sarah Orban will look to make the podium once again in Paris.
- Yvonne Ejim, 22, will represent Canada on the basketball court. She played collegiate hoops at Gonzaga University and was named the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year during her senior year in the NCAA in 2023-24.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games run from July 26th through August 11th.
Related Links
- Team Canada Olympic Games Information Hub: https://olympic.ca/paris-2024-olympic-games-information-hub.