22 Para swimmers selected for Paris 2024 Canadian Paralympic team
Longtime national team stars Aurélie Rivard and Katarina Roxon lead strong group.
Updated Article: On June 19, two more swimmers were added to the Canadian Para swimming team — Hannah Ouellette and Clémence Paré, increasing the number of athletes from 20 to 22. Some information in this article has been edited to reflect that.
The first Team Canada athletes for the Paris 2024 Paralympics were named on Sunday night, with 22 swimmers selected to compete at the games this summer.
The team announcement came at the end of the Olympic & Paralympic Swimming Trials in Toronto, where the country’s best swimmers went head-to-head with a limited number of spots on the team on the line.
Team Canada includes six Paralympic medallists, and ten of the athletes named will be making their Paralympic debuts.
Aurélie Rivard leads the way with ten Paralympic medals during her storied career, including five at Tokyo 2020 — two of them gold. Rivard, who recently turned 28, is heading to her fourth Paralympic Games.
“It’s a bit surreal to know I’m going to a fourth Paralympics,” said Rivard in a press release. “I’ve been at this for 16 years and I still get excited knowing I’ll be going to the Games and it’s a privilege to have been part of the team for this long. I think all the athletes will savour these Games more; we’re going to rediscover all that we missed due to the pandemic at the Tokyo Games and have the full Games experience.”
The longest-serving member of the national team is two-time Paralympic medallist Katarina Roxon, who is going to the games for a fifth time, a new record for Canadian female Para swimmers.
Now 31, the 2016 Paralympic champion is relishing the moment to head to the biggest stage once again.
“I never dreamed when I first started I would be going to five Paralympic Games,” said Roxon in a press release. “I’ve had times where I wasn’t as consistent as I wanted to be, but when you overcome those challenges to reach your goals it is very satisfying.”
Danielle Dorris, at age 21, is remarkably going to her third Paralympic Games already, after winning a pair of medals in Tokyo, including gold in the 50m butterfly S7. Sabrina Duchesne and Nicolas-Guy Turbide are also both heading to their third Paralympics after previously reaching the podium.
After missing out on Tokyo 2020 due to a fractured spine in early 2021, Tess Routliffe is finally making her second trip to the Paralympics after previously winning a silver medal in 2016. A very strong week at the trials booked her spot on the team, after which she said she was “never hungrier than to qualify for Paris.”
“It’s pretty amazing for me to be going back to the Paralympic Games,” said Routliffe in a press release. “I’m looking forward to Paris after missing Tokyo; it was a tough road to come back from my back injury. I can’t wait.”
Nicholas Bennett, Alec Elliot, Shelby Newkirk, Aly Van Wyck Smart, Nikita Ens, and Abi Tripp also return from the Tokyo 2020 roster. Bennett was one of the biggest stars of the Paralympic trials, including shattering the 200m individual medley world record in the SM14 classification by more than a second and a half.
Ten swimmers will be making their Paralympic debuts in Paris – Katie Cosgriffe, Sebastian Massabie, Reid Maxwell, Fernando Lu, Emma Grace Van Dyk, Mary Jibb, Philippe Vachon, Hannah Ouellette, Clémence Paré, and Arianna Hunsicker.
Ouellette and Paré were added to the team on June 19, a few weeks after the rest of the team, and will also be making their Paralympic debuts this summer. Both met the qualification standards at the Paralympic trials, and their inclusion on the roster means that Canada has now filled the maximum 22-athlete quota they can bring.
“I’m looking forward to representing Canada in Paris,” said Maxwell, who at 16 years and eight months old is the youngest member of the team, in a press release. “It’s such an honour. Of course the racing will be super fun, the field will be the strongest I’ve ever faced, and it’s going to be a great experience.”
Para swimming will take place from August 29 to September 7 at La Défense Arena in Paris. At Tokyo 2020, Para swimmers won eight of Canada’s 21 total medals – three gold, three silver, and two bronze.
Canada finished seventh in the medal table at the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships last summer, winning 19 medals. Nine of those medals were gold – two each by Bennett, Dorris, Rivard, and Routliffe, and one from Newkirk. The other 2023 worlds medallists were Tripp, Duchesne, Roxon, and Turbide.
Canada is expecting to send a team of approximately 140 athletes to the Paralympic Games, according to the Canadian Paralympic Committee, with the swimmers now making up the first spots.
Full Paralympic swimming team for Paris 2024:
Nicholas Bennett – Parksville, BC
Katie Cosgriffe – Burlington, ON
Danielle Dorris – Moncton, NB
Sabrina Duchesne – Saint-Augustin, QC
Alec Elliot – Kitchener, ON
Nikita Ens – Meadow Lake, SK
Arianna Hunsicker – Surrey, BC
Mary Jibb – Bracebridge, ON
Fernando Lu – Burnaby, BC
Sebastian Massabie – Surrey, BC
Reid Maxwell – St. Albert, AB
Shelby Newkirk – Saskatoon, SK
Hannah Ouellette – Saskatoon, SK
Clémence Paré – Boucherville, QC
Aurélie Rivard – Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC
Tess Routliffe – Caledon, ON
Katarina Roxon – Kippens, NL
Abi Tripp – Kingston, ON
Nicolas-Guy Turbide – Quebec City, QC
Philippe Vachon – Blainville, QC
Emma Grace Van Dyk – Port Colborne, ON
Aly Van Wyck Smart – Toronto, ON
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