U SPORTS Championships To Serve As Selection Meet For Dual With British All-Stars

2025 U SPORTS SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 6-8, 2025
• Toronto, Ontario
• Defending Champions:
  • Women – Toronto (3x)
  • Men – Toronto (1x)
• Start Times: 9:30 am prelims/5:30 pm finals (ET)
• SCM (25 meters)
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The U SPORTS Championships will have a bit of extra juice to it this year as the event will be used to select a Canadian team that will face off against Great Britain’s best university swimmers this summer.

On Monday, U SPORTS announced a historic dual meet against the Brits on July 3-4, 2025, with the top two eligible finishers in each event—including stroke 50s—at this week’s championship meet qualifying for the Canadian team.

In order to compete at the meet, swimmers must be able to represent Canada or Great Britain internationally, so for example, Kayla Sanchez, who previously swam for Canada on the global stage but has changed her sporting citizenship to the Philippines, is not eligible.

Additionally, any swimmers who swam at the 2024 Olympics or were named to their respective national team this summer (World Championships or World University Games) are also ineligible, avoiding any conflict with Swimming Canada and Aquatics GB.

“This international competition provides additional opportunities for our U SPORTS student-athletes to extend their competitive season and gain valuable international experience,” said Matthew Davies, U SPORTS Chief Sport Officer. “It’s an exciting initiative that we hope will become a recurring event on the international university swimming calendar.”

 The event will be contested in long course meters at Loughborough University. It is believed to be the first dual meet between two nations’ university programs.

The University of Toronto and Loughborough University have gone head-to-head in the past, however, with the Varsity Blues travelling to England and racing in the fall of 2018.

“I am delighted to welcome athletes to the British Universities vs. Canadian Universities Dual Meet this July,” said Andi Manley, Director of Swimming Loughborough University.

“This event will provide a fantastic opportunity for top student-athletes to compete in a unique high-level event whilst strengthening connections between our two nations. I look forward to witnessing some outstanding performances and showcasing Loughborough’s world-class swimming environment.”

The British team has not yet released their selection criteria, with the BUCS Championships having already concluded. However, some of their top programs, led by Loughborough, are on board with the meet.

The 2025 U SPORTS Swimming Championships will kick off on Thursday and run through Saturday at the University of Toronto. See a full preview here.

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