Three triathletes named to Canadian Olympic team for Paris 2024
Tyler Mislawchuk leads the team into his third Olympic Games.
Three triathletes were named to Team Canada on Monday, ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Tyler Mislawchuk is the only one of the three who has been to the Olympics before, and will be going to his third Games in Paris after finishing 15th at both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
The 29-year-old had two ninth-place, a 12th-place and five top-15 finishes on the World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) in 2023, as well as winning a silver medal at the World Triathlon Cup in Huatulco, Mexico. Ahead of the Tokyo Games he won the Olympic Test Event, and during a breakout 2019 season won a pair of World Cup races before reaching the WTCS podium with a bronze medal in Montreal.
In 2024 he is looking to challenge for the Olympic podium during what he says is the prime of his career.
“Third time’s a charm. I’m probably just as excited as I was for my first Olympics but three is special,” said Mislawchuk in a press release. “It is an elite club and I’m honoured to represent the maple leaf for what will be an epic trip to Paris this summer. My first Games in Rio, I was just so excited to make the team as an underdog. Tokyo, I came in with a lot stronger odds on me and I ended up injuring myself, and now I find myself in Paris in the prime of my career ready to rip.
“I’ve learned a lot from my last two Olympics, and you can’t buy that information that I have learned so I’m ready to put it to good use over these last few weeks of preparation. I always struggle with the idea that I’m a role model or I will inspire others with my performances, but I just hope my story shows that if a small town kid who grew up in the middle of the prairies in Oak Bluff, Manitoba training in -50 degrees can make it to the Summer Olympics then anyone can get there and compete against the best in the world.”
Charles Paquet and Emy Legault are the other two Canadians heading to Paris, where they will make their Olympic debuts.
Paquet, 26, finished seventh at the final Olympic qualification race in Cagliari, Italy in May, and has had a very successful season. Two weeks earlier he finished a career-best fifth-place at a WTCS stop in Yokohama, Japan. This will be his first Olympics, but he has a lot of experience at multi-sport Games. Paquet was a member of Canada’s silver medal-winning mixed relay team at the 2019 Pan American Games, and he also represented Canada at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games.
Now he is getting a first opportunity to compete on the biggest stage of all.
“I am very honoured to represent Canada at the Olympic Games”, said Paquet in a press release. “It’s a long-time dream coming true and I still have a hard time believing it. The Pan American Games enabled me to prepare to experience something similar at the Olympic Games. I was able to see all the big aspects of major Games that could sometimes add to the stress.”
Legault, 28, was part of the bronze medal-winning relay team at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, and placed sixth in the individual women’s race. In 2022 she reached the podium four times on the Americas Triathlon Cup series, and finished 10th at the Commonwealth Games. She also earned two top-12 finishes on the WTCS.
“Representing Canada at the Olympics is the biggest reward I could achieve for all my efforts since I started triathlon at nine years old,” said Legault in a press release. “This little girl had big dreams and I hope I can inspire other kids to try triathlon and push for their dreams as well. It’s the hardest thing I have ever done, but I have no regrets. It has really shaped the athlete I am, and while I hope I can make Canada proud on July 31, I mostly hope I will do the same for the little girl in me that dreamed so big 19 years ago.
“I’m grateful I could experience the Pan American Games last year, but I’m fully aware the Olympics are a different level of stress and pressure. Hopefully, with that Pan American Games experience in my pocket, the Olympics won’t feel as scary and stressful. I’m keeping my mind open and I know it’s going to be an awesome experience.”
The athletes qualified for Team Canada by meeting the criteria outlined in Triathlon Canada’s Internal Nominations Policy through their performances at World Triathlon Championship Series events between March 2023 and May 2024.
As Legault eluded to, the women’s individual triathlon event at Paris 2024 will take place at the Pont Alexandre III venue on July 31, with the men’s event happening a day earlier.
Team Canada has won two Olympic triathlon medals since the sport’s debut at Sydney 2000, both won by Simon Whitfield. Whitfield struck gold in Sydney and added a silver in Beijing eight years later. The mixed team relay made its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, where the Canadians placed 15th.
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