Fans can follow every session of the Canadian Olympic Swimming Trials, Presented by Bell, via CBC Sports’ digital platforms
Starting this weekend, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Swimming Trials will be available to swimming fans across Canada with full coverage of all preliminary and final races on CBC Sports’ digital platforms. The live coverage is among several opportunities to engage with Swimming Canada’s flagship event, set for Saturday through Wednesday at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.
All sessions will be live streamed in English at cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices and the free CBC Gem streaming service. Additionally, CBC Sports weekly staple ROAD TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES will provide broadcast coverage on Saturday, June 26 starting at 2:30 p.m. ET on CBC TV, hosted by Scott Russell and Olympic medallist Brittany MacLean. Rob Snoek and Byron MacDonald will provide commentary and analysis, and four-time Paralympic medallist Summer Mortimer will be reporting poolside.
A total of 184 swimmers from 65 clubs across the country will be competing for spots on Team Canada for the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games that are taking place July 23 – Aug. 8. The invitation-only event will include preliminary heats and finals for all events of 200 metres in distance or shorter, with timed finals being offered for distances 400 metres and longer.
Daily preliminary heats will begin at 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. ET. Evening finals will follow beginning at 5:30 p.m. Clubs across Canada have also been invited to bring or send in their own club banners to be displayed during the Olympic Trials to amplify the exposure for Canada’s swim clubs.
CBC’s streaming coverage will include commentary for all heats and finals. Brittany MacLean and former national team member Jasen Pratt will be the announcers for the preliminary heats, while CBC Sports’ Rob Snoek and Byron MacDonald will provide English commentary for finals. Snoek is a three-time member of Canada’s Paralympic team and an experienced Olympic play-by-play commentator while MacDonald is an Olympian, a long-time head coach of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, and recently coached the Toronto Titans in their first International Swimming League season.
Those who want to engage on social media can follow the CBC Olympics Instagram account, where Summer Mortimer and Brittany MacLean will be taking fans behind-the-scenes for an exclusive inside look at the trials. CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux will also be on-site, hosting the evening show, conducting the first live interviews with race winners after they touch the wall, and tweeting live updates.
Swimming Canada has produced a 37-page Event Safety Plan for the Trials. Strict health risk mitigation protocols will allow Canada’s best high-performance swimmers to compete for spots on Team Canada in as safe of an environment as possible. The comprehensive safety plan contains strong protocols including limited participant numbers, separate entry-exit protocols, masks, distancing, and cleaning to ensure a safe competitive environment in and around the pool.
With only essential personnel permitted in the building, Swimming Canada is offering a different way for fans to cheer on their favourite athletes as they compete to make their Olympic dreams come true. The Cheer On campaign was developed to allow fans to cheer on their favourite Canadian swimmers. Fans can visit www.swimming.ca/cheeron to submit a personal message of support and record their own cheer for their desired swimmer that will be included in the crowd noise during the event.
In addition, swimmers’ family members will be invited to watch their athletes through the Bell Fam Cam. From there, winning athletes will be able to celebrate and talk to their watching family and friends through the Bell First Call.
For further information on how athletes’ families can participate in the Bell Fam Cam and Bell First Call initiatives, please contact Senior Marketing Manager, Erin Moore at emoore@swimming.ca.
For CBC Sports, please contact Joanna Landsberg at joanna.landsberg@cbc.ca
