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Canadians gear up for second stop of open water World Series tour

News –

Three Canadians will be competing at the upcoming FINA/HOSA Marathon Swim World Series 10-km open water swimming race in Seychelles.

Three-time Olympian Stephanie Horner of Beaconsfield, Que., will look to build on her experience from the first leg of the FINA Marathon Open Water Series that took place in Doha, Qatar, in March. Horner was the top Canadian finishing 27th.

Seychelles is the second stop of the Open Water Word Series, which features eight events throughout the year taking place in various countries all over the world. The tour begins Tuesday and ends with the men’s and women’s 10-km races on Sunday.

“It’s the second competition of the year for this group of athletes following the FINA World Series 10k in March,” said Swimming Canada Distance and Open Water Coach Mark Perry. “They are looking to build on that experience and put in place individual strategies, skills and improvements learned in Qatar to help build through to the summer’s primary competitions.”

Horner will be joined by male swimmers Hau-Li Fan and Nicolas Masse-Savard. Masse-Savard finished 34th in Doha and Fan placed 47th.

“The Swimming Canada Open Water Program continues to offer great opportunities for our Canadian athletes to race against the best swimmers in the world at the FINA Open Water World Series events,” said Swimming Canada High Performance Director John Atkinson.

Perry will act as the team leader and head coach, and will be joined by coach Martin Gingras of Pointe-Claire, Que., and registered massage therapist, Ron Castro.

“This is all part of the open water strategy we have in place and have developed with our national Distance and Open Water Coach Mark Perry leading the program,” said Atkinson. “This also allows coaches such as Martin Gingras to get great experience at the world level.”

The swimmers will use this event to gain more open water experience and continue to improve their race skills in hopes of representing Canada at the Pan Pacific Championships in August.

SWIMMERS

Name Club Personal Coach
Stephanie Horner Pointe-Claire Swim Club  Martin Gingras 
 Hau-Li Fan   UBC Thunderbird Swim Club   Steve Price 
 Nicolas Masse-Savard    Club Aquatique Montreal   Pierre Lamy 

TEAM STAFF

Team Leader Mark Perry
Head Coach Mark Perry
Coaches Martin Gingras 
Registered Massage Therapist Ron Castro