LAC newcomer shines bright at Trials

Kathryn Ivanov, who joined the London Aquatic Club this year, was a top performer at the Canadian Olympic Trials, where she broke a Club record in the 100m breaststroke.

Kathryn Ivanov was one of three LAC swimmers to establish new Club records at the Canadian Olympic swimming trials held in June, as she posted a 1:09.58 in the 100m breaststroke final, placing seventh. (Photo courtesy Andrew Craven).

It was a stressful decision. She’d only known one club, Middlesex Swimming, since she’d begun swimming competitively at age 13. But the pandemic had forced that club to shut down for a season, for financial and logistical reasons. Kathryn Ivanov needed a plan – especially with the Canadian Olympic Trials in the not-too-distant future.

The London Aquatic Club was the answer.

Now, several months later, Ivanov is one of LAC’s top talents, and her performance at the recently held Trials, in which she placed seventh in the 100m breaststroke final (breaking an LAC record in the process) was arguably the most impressive of any London swimmer not named Maggie MacNeil (who is Tokyo-bound later this summer).

“I had always wanted to make a finals at trials, so that was definitely the highlight of the meet for me,” said the 17-year-old Ivanov, who posted a time of 1:09.58, a personal best. “I think it’s very cool that I’m now swimming with swimmers that I used to look at from a distance.”

That includes winner Kelsey Wog, five years her senior, who achieved the Olympic ‘A’ qualifying standard at Trials and will compete as part of Canada’s 26-person team (announced last week) at the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer.

“Everything was exciting. First of all, the walkout was a bit intimidating but very cool. The loud music and pre-recorded cheering definitely hyped me up,” said Ivanov.

And then she went out and broke an LAC club record at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre – not just for her age group (15 to 17) but the open club record as well.

“It was a really terrific swim for her,” said Andrew Craven, head coach at the London Aquatic Club. “She improved her time again in the final and also moved up one place, from eighth to seventh. That swim might rank her as the fastest 17-year-old in the country.”

“I had an amazing time,” said Ivanov. “Despite the many (COVID) regulations, the meet was very well-run. Everything was straightforward, and I think because of that I wasn’t nervous. I stayed focused and had fun, and the race itself went very smoothly for me.”

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Ivanov’s transition to the London Aquatic Club has also gone very smoothly.

Late last summer, she reached out to LAC and asked if she could join the program. There wasn’t an open spot in the top group at the time, but Craven told her she could join one of the lower senior groups.

“She jumped at that,” the coach said. “She was really keen.”

“I knew of LAC, of course, and that they had an amazing reputation,” said Ivanov. “I knew of their high achievements, and I knew that if I switched there, I would be able to continue to grow as a person and as a swimmer.”

Ivanov arrived having enjoyed a successful career with Middlesex Swimming, under coach Tim Ebbs, where she had achieved club records and medaled at numerous high-profile meets. At the high school level, she’s an Ontario champion and record-holder.

“Eventually, we were able to move her up into the top group,” Craven said. “But she’s only been swimming with us this year.”

That year has included three lockdowns, which have impeded training for swimmers across the province. But Ivanov rode the waves along the way – and made new friends, too.

“Middlesex was a small team, so everyone was very close to each other,” the 17-year-old said. “The LAC team was very lovely and welcoming. And when we went into lockdown, it was an amazing experience swimming with this small group of high-level swimmers.”

That was lockdown number three, which came into effect April 1, less than seven weeks before Olympic Trials. A group of six LAC members were allowed to continue training, as they’d been named to Swim Ontario’s exempt list (having qualified for the Trials).

Kathryn Ivanov (left) with LAC teammates Jack Haycock and Shona Branton at this year’s Canadian Olympic Swimming Trials in June. (Photo courtesy Andrew Craven).

And, so, Ivanov, Shona Branton, Jack Haycock, David Hickey, Charis Huddle and Brett Liem made their way to the Canada Games Aquatic Centre every weekday, Monday thru Friday, from 2-4pm, and continued to train for the country’s premier event which comes around just once every four years (or, in this case, five years after the postponement of the 2020 Trials).

“For 90 percent of the swimmers (at Trials), that’s their Olympics, just by virtue of the fact they’ve qualified and are competing there,” said Craven. “It’s the biggest competition on the domestic calendar, and for many it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We were really fortunate that the City of London agreed to open the (Aquatic Centre) for our exempt swimmers. We have a great relationship with the City.”

Craven and his associate coach, Kelly Steeves, who designed the 10-hour-per-week training program for the athletes, coached the six of them together in the weeks leading up to the Canadian Trials (the Forest City Diving Club also had three divers – who were on Dive Ontario’s exempt list – training at the pool as well.

“We did a ton of race simulations while training,” said Ivanov. “I was already doing personal bests, so I knew that at trials I would be able to swim some good times.

And she did just that, placing seventh in the 100m breaststroke and breaking an LAC record in the process.

“I’m very happy and grateful for everything I’ve achieved so far, and I can’t wait for what the future holds,” said Ivanov, who will head to Hawaii in the fall on a swim scholarship at the University of Manoa. “I will continue to swim with LAC throughout the summer, and my goal is to stay fit and in good form.”

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Ivanov wasn’t the only record-breaker at last week’s Trials. Maggie MacNeil, who had already been named to Canada’s Olympic swim team earlier this year, set a new LAC record in the 100m freestyle (54.02).

Despite achieving the Olympic ‘A’ qualifying standard, MacNeil (who had been training at Ontario’s high-performance centre) placed third in the event, behind Rio gold medalist Penny Oleksiak and Kayla Sanchez, and thus likely won’t compete in the discipline in Tokyo. The multiple-time NCAA champion will, however, likely compete on the 4x100m freestyle relay team, and she’ll certainly compete in her premier event, the 100m butterfly, which she won at last week’s Trials in a time of 56.19.

Carter Buck, meanwhile, also achieved a new LAC record at the Trials, swimming a 57.18 in the 100m backstroke during preliminaries on the opening day of competition (though he swam this year out of the Ontario Swim Academy in Toronto, Buck races under the LAC banner – and he did his online schooling at Banting. He’ll be heading to the University of Toronto in the fall).

Shona Branton (heading into second year at Western University) competed in the 100m and 200m breaststroke events; Jack Haycock (second year engineering student at the University of Ottawa) swam the 100m and 200m breaststroke; and David Hickey (second year Kinesiology student at U of T) competed in the 100m backstroke event.

“Just to have David competing at trials was a win for us,” said Craven. “He’s been a national finalist before, but he’s been battling injury for the last year … shoulder, neck and back stuff.”

Brett Liem (second year Medical Bio-physics Masters student at Western), who originally hails from Nova Scotia, competed in the 50m freestyle event, while Charis Huddle (second year medical school student at Western) swam the 50m and 100m freestyle events.

“Charis is a real inspiration for everybody,” Craven said of the 24-year-old. “She has a wonderful attitude and great work ethic, and she’s been a great role model for all our 17- and 18-year-olds.”

Four other LAC swimmers qualified for the originally planned April 2020 Trials but weren’t able to compete this year due to tighter restrictions on number of competitors. They include Hayden Bartoch, Katie Callon, Colin Shearer and Lauren Campbell, a 15-year-old, who Craven says is one of the top female swimmers in her age group in the country.

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What’s up next for LAC? Besides working with local COVID restrictions and getting the club’s 240 swimmers training at the Gibbons Park and Thames Park outdoor pools (until the Aquatic Centre re-opens), they’re planning a gathering – in some capacity – to watch one of their own, Maggie MacNeil, compete on the world stage later this summer.

“We’re tentatively planning to do an outdoor viewing party when she races her 100 fly in Tokyo,” said Craven. “That would be pretty exciting. I don’t know what restrictions are going to be like at the end of July, but if we can bring all of our swimmers to watch her race, that would be pretty neat.”