Waterloo Warriors compete in Olympic swim trials — Kevin Zhang finishes in second place and other results

Last month, on May 13-19, five Waterloo Warriors competed in this year’s Olympic trials for Paris 2024 — a number unprecedented in Waterloo swim’s recent history. These athletes were Kevin Zhang, who swam the 200m and 100m butterfly; Megan Frost, who swam the 400m free; Allen Zheng, who swam the 50m freestyle; Raymond Duong, who also swam the 50m freestyle; and Aidan Lapicco, who swam the 200m breaststroke.

Zhang, a computer science student originally from Mississauga, placed second in the 200m butterfly with a time of 1:59.14 and came within the top 20 for the 100m butterfly. While disappointed that he missed meeting the standard to participate in the Olympics, he says he felt his performance was “alright.” He’s looking forward to competing in Nationals at the end of July and hopefully qualify for the World University Games. His coach also mentioned they had plans to try again for Los Angeles 2028 in the next Olympic cycle. When he’s not swimming, Zhang enjoys staying active with other sports like hockey and basketball. He hopes to pursue a career in tech but remains open to any opportunities that may come his way.

Frost, a physics and astronomy student originally from Point-Clare, came within the top 20 for the 400m freestyle with a time of 4:26.84. She ended up choosing not to compete in the 1500m freestyle due to its inconvenient timing, but she came 14th in the finals heat for the event with a time of 17:29.72. She plans to retire after she graduates university and is choosing not to attach any expectations for her performance for the time being — she just hopes to maintain or improve her times. When asked about her future career plans, Frost said she’s considering doing a master’s, but also hopes to work in the space sector with her background in physics. Apart from swimming, she’s also an avid baker and reader, with Song of Achilles, Circe, and the Hunger Games topping her list.

Zheng, an optometry student originally from Ottawa, came within the top 20 for the 50m freestyle with a time of 23.26 in the finals. While a good time, he mentioned it was quite far from his best and that he did not perform as well as he wanted to. Next year will be Zheng’s last year of eligibility for competing so his plan for the near future is just to have fun with the team, try for another medal at U Sports Swimming Championships, and go to the gym more often. Zheng also mentions being a huge hockey fan, calling it his “second sport.” He also enjoys playing the guitar.

Duong, a mechanical engineering student originally from Markham, also swam the 50m freestyle, finishing with a time of 24.07. He says he was happy with his performance as it was fairly close to his best time of 23.84. He’s not planning on retiring yet and hopes to expand the range of events that he swims. While he is thinking about full-time work and hopes to get into the management side of engineering once he’s graduated, he’s considering a master’s degree as well. Duong is also an avid gamer and enjoys being all-around active, playing basketball and spikeball with his friends.

For Lapicco, an environment, resources, and sustainability student originally from St. Catharines, this was his second Olympic trial event. He finished with a time of 2:27.6 in the 200m breaststroke and came within the top 50. Lapicco mentioned that he wasn’t entirely happy with his performance, given that he was seeded 20th going into the meet and swam much slower than his best time. Considering the proximity of his competing at U Sports along with other academic commitments and an unintentional extended training hiatus, however, he learned to accept what happened and hopes to train harder for his next meet. He is planning on doing a master’s degree to extend his swimming career by one more year and hopes to improve his 1500m freestyle time. In his free time, he also makes electronic music and plays soccer casually.

As one might expect, participating in the Olympic trials is no small feat. To even be able to compete, one must be below a standard time for their event (set by Swimming Canada) at any sanctioned swim meet which uses a 50-metre  course pool. This is much easier said than done—our UW swimmers who were able to meet the standards for their events have been swimming competitively anywhere from 8-13 years. To illustrate the difficulty in a more concrete sense, a reasonably fit male between the ages of 18-24 can expect to swim a 200m butterfly in 3:40. The standard to compete in the Olympic trials for the same event is 2:06.55.

The training commitment as well is not for the faint of heart. Jackie Henrique, the UW varsity swim coach, says that athletes can expect to train anywhere from 12-18 hours a week doing a combination of dry land strength training and pool training. The exact ratio between the two depends on the distance an athlete swims, but generally most are in the weightroom and in the pool on the same day.

While this seems like a lot to balance with academics, all of the athletes said that juggling both became easy once they had found their own unique ways to cope. For example, Zhang chose to sacrifice sleep and social outings for practises or assignments. Frost, valuing her sleep, instead chose to sacrifice her academics. The general theme seemed to be that they had to learn what to prioritize and what to let go, and they realized after a while that they could indeed have their cake and eat it too if they did those two things well. This ease might be in part due to Henrique’s coaching philosophy, which prioritizes creating an environment where they feel free to speak to her or one of the other coaches.

“At the end of the day, I hope they swim fast and do well, but will they be able to cope with all of life? If I can have a little bit in doing that and helping them along that road, then yes, I would feel like I have achieved something.” She then paused before adding, “But you know, I want them to swim fast too,” and ending with a laugh. When asked further about how she felt about the results, Henrique had said she was proud of all her athletes. “This group is good in terms of, they will have set their own goals… I know that they’re on the right path in the summer. I’m pleased with the direction they’re going now.”

Waterloo wishes our Warriors luck in their future endeavours, both in their career and their athletics. We’re excited to see what they can accomplish as they continue their hard work.