Cascade Swim Club and Canadian Sport Institute Calgary Development Athlete Yuri Kisil Sweeps Men’s Sprint Events at Canadian Swimming Trials

Calgary, AB – Eighteen year old Yuri Kisil of the Cascade Swim Club in Calgary swam to two National Championship titles over the weekend at the Canadian National Swimming Trials in Victoria, B.C.
Kisil produced two personal best performances to win both the 100m freestyle and the 50m freestyle events earning himself a spot on the Canadian National Swim team for the Pan Pacific Championships and a nomination to represent Canada at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Going into the 100m freestyle event, Kisil was seeded 19th on time but took an extraordinary 1.35 seconds off the personal best he set in March 2014 to win the event in a time of 49.87 seconds. Not only was he the only swimmer to break the 50 second mark in both the heat and the final but he became the youngest Canadian swimmer to break the 50 seconds mark in the 100m Free. To reinforce his arrival amongst Canada's elite male swimmers, he went on to win the 50m freestyle in a new personal best time of 22.53 on the final day of the competition.
Even though Kisil's recent success might be a surprise to some, his coaches Wendy and Dave Johnson knew he had the potential to achieve this kind of result.
"Yuri is the type of athlete that believes in the program he is part of. He is a late developer but he is a hidden talent that we knew was coming," said Wendy.
The Canadian Sport Institute Calgary also recognized Kisil as an emerging talent and has supported him through the Athlete Development Project since October 2013.
"The Canadian Sport Institute Calgary doesn't usually begin working with athletes until they are full senior internationals. But we know that with athletes at Yuri's age and stage of development, sport science and coaching support from our experts can have a huge and lasting impact on their athletic careers," said Paula Jardine, Athlete Development Program Consultant.
"Through the new Athlete Development initiative, Canadian Sport Institute experts like Anna Aylwin, a strength and movement coach, have been working with Yuri for the last six months to develop his basic movement competencies and body control. This is already translating into better responsiveness to coach cues in the pool and leading to these step changes in his performances," added Jardine.
These improvements related to the work provided by the Canadian Sport Institute Calgary have not gone unnoticed by the coaching duo.
"We are very grateful for the support we are getting from the Canadian sport Institute, it has helped us tremendously with our athletes," said coach Wendy.
About the Canadian Sport Institute Calgary Athlete Development Project
The Athlete Development Project is an initiative of the Canadian Sport Institute Calgary whose objective is to identify and develop athletes with the potential to achieve medal success at World and Olympic level.