By Madeline Folsom on SwimSwam
2026 SPEEDO CANADIAN OPEN
April 9-11, 2026 Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton Kinsmen Sports Centre LCM (50 meters) Meet Central Psych Sheets Live Results PreviewThe Speedo Canadian Open kicks off on Thursday, April 9th, and there are some big swimmers and some storylines building for one of the first major long course meets of the 2026 season.
NCAA Roundup
There are a number of NCAA athletes who are racing their first meet of the long course season after wrapping up the season in March.
Leading the charge is 20-year-old Bella Sims, who had a very strong NCAA season after transferring to Michigan following the 2024-25 school year.
She is entered in the 100 free, 200 free, and 200 IM and she will be the top seed in the 200 free and 200 IM. Sims has not raced a lot of freestyle since her transfer to Michigan, opting to swim the backstroke events and the 400 IM at the 2026 NCAA Championships. She had a few strong splits on the 400 freestyle and 800 freestyle relays from NCAAs, so she might be testing the waters in the long course events.
Just behind Sims in the women’s 200 free is Tennessee sophomore Ella Jansen. A member of Canada’s World Championships team from last summer, Jansen is also coming off a strong performance at NCAAs that saw her pick up two 4th place finishes and a 7th place finish.
Jansen is already a member of Canada’s Commonwealth Games team this summer, and she is entered in the 100 free, 200 free, 50 fly, 100 fly, 200 back, and 200 IM. She is notably not swimming the 200 fly or 400 freestyle events, which she holds meet records in.
UNLV’s Rachel Wigginton is the top seed in the 400 IM and she will also be racing the 200 breast, 200 fly, and 200 IM.
On the men’s side, Michigan’s Antoine Sauve, Inbar Danziger, and Ole Eidam will all be in attendance with German national Eidam as the only one of the three who swam individual events at the NCAA Championships. He will be swimming the 50 free, 100 free, 50 fly, and 100 fly.
Sauve is a Canadian native, and he is the national record holder and top seed in the 200 freestyle with Auburn’s Daniel Krichevsky, who competes for Israel, seeded just behind him in 2nd. Sauve is also entered in the 50 free, 100 free, 50 breast, 100 breast, 200 breast.
The Veterans Holding Steady
There are a few Canadians who have been mainstays on the international team roster that are racing this weekend on home soil.
Taylor Ruck and Ingrid Wilm are both swimming this week. Ruck is the top Canadian sprinter on the women’s side with Penny Oleksiak‘s Whereabouts suspension keeping her out of racing until July of 2027. Ruck is the top seed in the 50 free, 100 free, 100 back, 50 fly. She is also entered in the 200 free, and 100 fly.
Wilm focuses primarily on the backstroke events and she will battle with Ruck in the 100 back, but she is the top seed in the 50 back and 200 back. She is also entered in the 100 free, and 50 fly.
Blake Tierney had a very strong meet at the 2025 World Championships in Singapore to move up the Canadian rankings, setting new national records in the 100 and 200 back. This week, the 24-year-old will be racing as the top seed in the 50 back, 100 back, and 200 back. He is seeded outside the top eight in the 50 free, 100 free, and 200 free. He is seeded with SCM times in the 50 and 200 freestyle events.
Finlay Knox also has a lot of international experience for Canada and will be racing this week. He is entered in the 100 free, 200 free, 50 fly, 100 fly, and he is the top seed in the 200 IM.
Is This the End of the Breaststroke Drought?
It is no secret that the Canadian women’s team has been lacking a strong breaststroker for a few years now, but things seem to be turning around for them with the rise of 20-year-old breaststroke Alexanne Lepage.
Lepage is coming off two SCM Canadian records in the 50 and 100 breaststroke. She swam 29.91 in the 50 breast and 1:04.11 in the 100 breast to take down Amanda Reason‘s 2009 record in the 50 breast and Kelsey Wog‘s 2023 record in the 100 breast.
Lepage is the top seed in the 50 breast and 100 breast, and the 2nd seed in the 200 breast. She will also race the 100 free, 200 IM, and 400 IM.
She will be racing veteran Sophie Angus in all three events. Angus is stronger in the 200 with her coming in as the top seed. Angus is also the 2nd seed in the 50 breast and the 100 breast.
Young Distance Stars
In the men’s and women’s distance freestyle races, there are almost no athletes under the age of 20 swimming either event. The top seed in the women’s 1500 freestyle is 16-year-old Abigail McLeod while the top seed in the men’s is 18-year-old Aiden Kirk.
In the women’s race, none of the top-eight seeds are older than 17. The men’s race has a few “older” swimmers with 19-year-old Hunter Payne coming in seeded 2nd and 22-year-old Diego Paz seeded 6th.
The 800 free is a similar story. Again, McLeod and Kirk are the respective women’s and men’s top seeds. McLeod is seeded two seconds ahead of 15-year-old Elleigh Wise while Kirk comes in a little more than five seconds ahead of 16-year-old Oliver Blanchard.
The whole top eight on the women’s side is made up of teenagers with 14-year-old Maelie Bowkowy coming in as the 8th seed. The men have one 22-year-old in the top-eight with Artiom Volodin seeded 8th overall.
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