TORONTO – Some of Canada’s top young swimmers will be looking to make their mark as the first-ever RBC Canadian Junior Swimming Championships take place in Toronto Wednesday through Monday.

As part of Swimming Canada’s 2016 competition review, the previous Canadian Age Group Championships will now be known as the Canadian Junior Championships. The change is part of a strategic process to become a Top 6 total medal producing nation at the Olympics and Paralympic Games in 2020.

The Canadian Junior Championships will have fewer participants than past years with the goal of helping make the provincial championships more robust and competitive. Time standards have been slightly altered.

“Our goal is to improve everything we do in Canadian swimming,” said High Performance Director John Atkinson. “In order to improve, changes must be made. We cannot stand still.”

Just under 700 athletes are expected to arrive at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre for the start of the 2017 Canadian Junior Championships. The competition begins Wednesday and will conclude with open water competition on Monday. The pool portion of the competition will be webcast on cbcsports.ca.

There will plenty of young athletes to watch in Toronto. Several are preparing for the 2017 Canada Summer Games and the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships later this summer.

Taylor Ruck, the double bronze medalist from the Rio 2016 Olympics, is the favourite entering the women’s 200-m backstroke, her only event at this competition. Ruck swam at the Canet-en-Roussillon, France, leg of the Mare Nostrum tour and took a silver and a bronze in the 100 and 200-m backstroke.

Gabe Mastromatteo of Kenora (Ont.) Swimming has had a busy first half of 2017. The breaststroke specialist performed well at the 2017 Canadian Swimming Trials, leaving Victoria with a bronze medal in the men’s 50-m breaststroke. Mastromatteo also broke a Canadian Age Group record (13-14) in the final of the 100-m breast in Victoria, topping a record he set at last year’s Age Group Championships.

Their world junior teammate Mabel Zavaros is also heading into the competition with high expectations. Zavaros has had a strong year thus far, winning two bronze medals in the 50 and 200-m butterfly at the 2017 Canadian Swimming Trials. She proceeded to rack up seven individual medals, including three gold, at the Eastern Canadian Championships.

The Pointe-Claire Swim Club will have notable athletes in attendance. Katrina Brathwaite, Charles Millette and Emil Goin are poised to be strong competitors.

“Our kids have trained hard this year. We’re excited for the competition,” said Head Coach Martin Gingras.

Other names to watch include Alexander Katelnikoff of Calgary’s Cascade Swim Club. Katelnikoff is coming off a silver medal at the 2017 Canadian Swimming Trials and two golds and a silver at the Western Canadian Championships. He will be the favourite in Toronto heading into the 400 and 1500-m freestyle. He is expected to be challenged by St-Catharines, Ont., native Justin Konik.

Konik, of the Etobicoke Swim Club, is a frontrunner in the 100-m and 200-m freestyle. He bested the competition in both events at this year’s Eastern Canadian Championships. A few weeks prior, he earned a bronze medal at the Canadian Swimming Trials in the 800-m freestyle.

The Etobicoke Swim Club, hosts of the 2017 Eastern Canadian Championships, were the recipients of 5 gold and 17 total medals at the competition. Hanna Henderson contributed a gold in the 200-m butterfly. She is expected to be in medal contention at the upcoming Junior Championships.

“I was pleased with our overall performance at Easterns,” said Head Coach Kevin Thorburn. “We’re looking for a good meet at Juniors. It should be a great opportunity to swim fast.”

Markham Aquatic Club’s Owen Huang and Victoria Kwan, Cascade’s Justin Lisoway and Hyack Swim Club’s Octavia Lau are some other names worth noting. Kwan is another member of the national junior team getting ready to compete at the FINA World Junior Championships in Indianapolis next month.

Cascade Swim Club Head Coach Dave Johnson is looking forward to the opportunity to attend the meet.

“Over time, you’re going to see some prestige associated with performing well at the Canadian Junior Championships,” Johnson said. “I’m happy to be a part of the first iteration of it and it will be a good experience for our swimmers.”