It was a busy May long weekend for Saskatchewan athletes as they competed in Canada and abroad to punch their tickets to the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.
In swimming, Saskatoon’s Blake Tierney will make his Olympic debut, while Regina-born Kelsey Wog, who resides in Winnipeg, will head back to her second Games after being announced to the Canadian squad following the Olympic Trials in Toronto. At the event, Tierney won the men’s 200-metre backstroke and set a Canadian record with a time of 1:56.74.
Joining the team at the Olympics will be Saskatoon’s Graham Olson as a performance analyst.
Also at the Trials on the Paralympic side, Saskatoon’s Shelby Newkirk — who set a Canadian record in the women’s S6 100-metre freestyle with a time of 1:13.68 — and Meadow Lake’s Nikita Ens were nominated along with 18 other swimmers for the Canadian team. This will be the second Games for both Newkirk and Ens, who made their debuts in Tokyo in 2020. The Canadian team will officially be announced closer to the Paralympics.
Staying in the water, Saskatoon’s Margo Erlam finished atop the podium at the Canadian Diving Trials in Windsor to earn the nomination to represent Canada in the women’s 3-metre event at the Olympics. Pike Lake’s Rylan Wiens was previously announced as being nominated along with his partner in the men’s synchronized 10-metre platform event. The official Canadian roster will be announced in June.
Meanwhile, on the basketball court, Humboldt’s Paige Crozon and her teammates made history as they became Canada’s first-ever team to qualify for the Olympics in 3×3 basketball. At the last-chance qualifier in Hungary, the team needed to finish in third place or better to earn their spot in Paris. After a narrow 19-18 loss to Spain in the semifinals, Canada was in a must-win situation against the host team, but was cool under pressure, earning a 21-10 victory to punch their ticket to Paris.