By Jim Morris

There are many firsts in life.

There’s a first step, first day of school, first love. This summer, nine Canadian swimmers will be competing at their first World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

The five men and four women who qualified at the 2023 Bell Canadian Swimming Trials expressed a mixture of excitement, relief and anticipation about stepping on the world stage.

“It takes a big weight off my shoulders,” said Brayden Taivassalo, of Markham, Ont., who trains at the High Performance Centre – Ontario with coach Ryan Mallette.

“My whole career has been leading up to this point. A lot of hard work is behind me, but it’s definitely not stopping.”

The 18-year-old won the 200-metre breaststroke in a personal best time of 2:11.28 seconds.

Ella Jansen, from Burlington, Ont., accomplished what she expected of herself. After just missing worlds at last year’s Trials, but earning a spot at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, she went on to be part of the women’s 4×200-m freestyle and 4×100 freestyle relays that took silver and bronze. Jansen also swam to an individual Top 5 finish in the women’s 400 individual medley. These performances warranted her Swimming Canada’s 2022 Breakout Swimmer of the Year Award.

“Coming into the meet my goal was to make the worlds team,” said the 17-year-old who trains at the HPC-Ontario. “It was definitely not a surprise.

“That was always the intention but it was kind of fun to see how many events I could get on the team for. I didn’t get as many as I would have hoped but I’m on the team.”

Jansen was second in the 400-m freestyle won by Summer McIntosh in world-record time on the opening night of the trials. She also earned herself a spot on the women’s 4×200-m freestyle relay team.

It’s no easy feat earning a spot on a powerful Canadian women’s team that has double world champion McIntosh, plus Olympic medallists including Sydney Pickrem, Kylie Masse, Taylor Ruck and Margaret Mac Neil.

“It’s really nerve wracking coming into it,” said Jansen. “Trials is probably one of the scariest meets of the year. There’s a lot of emotion. You’re just trying to deal with that, especially when you know how many good Canadian women are in this sport.”

Brooklyn Douthwright, of Riverview, N.B., swam a personal best time of 55.15 seconds in the 100-m freestyle to become the first Maritimer to qualify for world championships since Marianne Limpert in 2003.

“I’ve been trying to make a senior national team for quite a while now,” said the 19-year-old Club De Natation Bleu Et Or product, who had a breakout sophomore season at the University of Tennessee. “To see that finally play out, I was really happy.”

Lorne Wigginton, who trains at the University of Calgary, swam a personal best time of 4:16.14 to win the 400-m individual medley.

“It’s been a goal of mine for a long time, so it’s kind of crazy,” said the 17-year-old.

Making the team was a breakthrough for Edouard Fullum-Huot. The Montreal native has spent the last year training with the University of Florida Gators along with fellow Canadians Joshua Liendo of Markham and Mabel Zavaros, of Burlington, Ont., who also will compete at her first world championships.

“Every year I feel Like I’ve been working so hard and I’ve been so close to making it,” said Fullum-Huot, 20, who swam personal bests in the 50 and 100-m freestyle and the 50 butterfly. “This year, just training with the Gators, it made me improve so much that I was final able to make it through.”

Other swimmers making their long-course world championships debut are IIya Kharun, who was born in Montreal and raised in Las Vegas; Hugh McNeill of Langley, B.C., who trains with the UBC Thunderbirds; and Etobicoke Swim Club product Hanna Henderson of Mississauga, Ont.

Mallette, Swimming Canada’s head coach at the world championships, said adding nine new faces is important for the national team’s development.

“We’re trying to get new athletes to podiums,” said Mallette. “So nine new athletes is nine new opportunities or more than that based on how many swims they have.

“We always need to keep moving athletes upwards towards this level of international success.”

Mallette said to help ease the nerves among the new swimmers, Swimming Canada tries to maintain consistency on its teams, whether it’s an international junior meet, a Pan Am Games or an Olympics.

The swimmers agree they will face a learning curve.

“I need to learn to manage nerves and expectations a little bit,” said Jansen. “That’s going to be my main focus.”

Douthwright sees the world championships as a stepping stone toward the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

“Going through the whole experience will teach me a lot,” she said.

Taivassalo will be keeping a close eye on the veterans.

“I’m really looking to learn from the other swimmers and people that have been there,” he said. “It’s not the tangible things you might learn. It’s more how to carry yourself, because it’s a big responsibility to be representing the country.”