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Diving Canada has settled back in Windsor and it won’t be a short stay.
The national body will hold the Summer Senior National Championships and Olympic Trials at the Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre on Friday through Sunday.
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“We’re really happy to be here,” chief operating officer Penny Joyce said. “This is a world-class facility. I’m not sure everyone in the area realizes that. This is one of the best facilities in the world for hosting a diving competition and developing local divers. We appreciate that.”
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Along with this weekend’s event, it was announced that Windsor will host the Canada Cup international diving event in 2025 and 2026 at the centre. Dates are still to be finalized.
“The Canada Cup is an international event recognized by world aquatics and featuring divers from some of the best countries in the world including China, Great Britain, the United States, Australia and Canada,” Mayor Drew Dilkens said.
“Windsor’s certainly made a name for itself in aquatics and we’re so happy to host these events. Now that COVID’s over, hopefully we can get back to a normal routine.”
Windsor was actually scheduled to host the Olympic Trials prior to the 2020 Tokyo Games, but the pandemic shut thing down and eventually held under closed and controlled conditions in Toronto.
“We’re back in Windsor and it seems that we’re always looking for a reason to come back,” chief technical officer Mitch Geller said. “The reason we come to Windsor for our Olympic Trials is because we recognize that we need to go somewhere where the athletes all feel they have their own little home-field advantage. That’s what’s special about the environment that we’re provided with in Windsor.”
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Nearly 50 athletes worked out on Wednesday in preparation for the competition including 2020 Olympian Rylan Wiens, who has already qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in the 10-metre platform.
“The facility is great,” said the 22-year-old Wiens, who competed at the senior nationals in Windsor in 2019. “This is my third time here. I can’t say enough about how amazing this facility is. I can’t say enough about how amazing this pool and the people are here.”
Wiens is one of five former Canadian Olympians set to compete at the event along with Nathan Zsombor-Murray, Cedric Fofana, Pamela Ware and Caeli McKay. As well, Kate Miller has already qualified for Paris with McKay in the women’s 10-metre synchronized.
“This is probably the event of the highest importance, the most pressure in any athlete’s career who is vying to go to the Olympic Games,” Geller said.
And this year’s event will also have a local flavour with the Windsor Diving Club’s Maisy Woloszyn set to compete in one-metre springboard and three-metre springboard.
“I am very excited,” the 16-year-old Woloszyn said. “This is an amazing opportunity. There are so many people here that I look up to and to be able to compete right beside them is going to be a great experience for my future in diving and really build me up as a diver. I have a little bit of fears, but I think it’s for the better.
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“I’m not expecting a huge thing. I’m expecting to go out and have the experience behind my back. It’s a thrill.”
But Joyce sees a potential Canada Cup opportunity for Woloszyn down the road.
“It’s an opportunity for Windsor to get on the world stage and inspire more kids,” said Joyce, who expects 80 to 120 divers along with 50 coaches in town for the Canada Cup. “You never know, we’re on track right now that we might have some divers from the Windsor diving club competing at the Canada Cup. They have some very promising talent right now. Some that have been identified to compete in our junior elite program.
“For us, we’re very prod to say we’ve been hosting this event in some shape or form for over 50 years. It’s a huge tradition for us and we’re really pleased to be coming to Windsor to carry on this tradition.”
This weekend’s event will decide Canada’s representatives in women’s three-metre springboard and women’s 10-metre platform along with men’s 10-metre platform.
Competition will begin at 10 a.m. each day and run until about 5 p.m. Tickets to the event can be purchased online at diving.ca, but Friday’s event is free to the public.
“This marks a monumental chapter for Windsor’s sporting community,” Dilkens said. “It also reinforces Windsor and the surrounding region’s status and reputation as a world-class sports tourism destination. It’s great to see an event of this caliber coming to our pool.”
jpparker@postmedia.com
twitter.com/winstarparker
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