MALLORCA, Spain – Canadian open water success is rippling through the crystal clear waters of the Mediterranean as 24 swimmers from eight different provinces have gathered to train and compete at the 2022 BEST Fest on Mallorca.

The eighth edition of the open water swimming festival kicked off on Saturday and includes seven open water competitions. The Canadian team is using the seven-day event as a development opportunity and hopes to spread knowledge about open water racing across the country to the coaches, swimmers and provinces involved.

Natasha Frost of the Pointe-Claire Aquatic Club won gold in the five-kilometre event Saturday. Frost explained that her performance was better than what she anticipated.

“For me, the race was pretty good,” Frost said. “The conditions were a bit choppier than I was expecting, so it definitely made it more difficult. I definitely stayed with the pack as much as I could and I’m really happy with how it went.”

Provincial collaboration has been the focus of the nine-day training camp. As part of Swimming Canada’s High Performance Strategy to 2024/2028, the camp has emphasized the importance of working together while developing coaches and swimmers from across the country.

Raben Dommann, a veteran swimmer on the team, is using both his training and his racing to learn and gain more open water experience. Having attended the camp before, he is excited by the opportunity to train with a new group of athletes.

“It’s fun to work with some of the younger swimmers,” said Dommann, 21. “For a lot of them, it’s their first time doing open water on a Canadian team. I remember doing this camp when I was 16 or 17 so it’s cool seeing it from a different perspective now. It’s a good group of people to be with.”

This year’s camp is a joint initiative with the provincial swimming associations. Each province selected swimmers and staff while Swimming Canada provided national team staff who are running it as a train-and-race opportunity to national team standards.

Team leader and head coach Mark Perry worked to develop a weekly template to educate the swimmers and coaches about distance swimming training and what it takes to be a successful distance swimmer.

“People get the chance to swim three really good quality races and train around that,” Perry said. “It’s an ideal opportunity to get all the provinces on board. We’ve worked really hard and we’ve got 24 different swimmers from eight different provinces, and eight coaches from four provinces, supported by our national team staff.”

Having had previous success at international open water events, Swimming Canada is looking to continue to develop its open water program. Swimming Canada High Performance Director and National Coach John Atkinson sees the pan-provincial open water camp as an exciting opportunity for up-and-coming athletes to experience competing at the international level and work towards their long-term goals.

“This is a very positive collaboration with the provinces, and a great fit as part of our high-performance strategy as we work towards the Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games,” Atkinson said. “It is so important for all of us to work together to develop Canadian coaches and swimmers across the country, and this will be one of many opportunities over the coming months and years.”