A woman who trains in Waterloo Region is part of a Canadian artistic swimming team that clinched a spot at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games on Friday.
Brantford native Claire Scheffel helped the squad clinch their Olympic spot at the World Aquatics Championships underway in Doha, Qatar.
“Five countries had already qualified through other means, and the last five spots were at stake at the event,” Canada Artistic Swimming’s Stéphane Cote told Global News in an email.
“The results were calculated using aggregated scores from three different team events: acrobatic routine, technical routine and free routine – Canada came fifth in those standings amongst non-qualified teams, and earned their ticket.”
Cote explained that the swimming team event will feature the same set of programs in Paris.
“The athletes selected to represent Canada at the Olympics will be announced at a later time,” he noted.
Audrey Lamothe and Jacqueline Simoneau, both from Montreal, also qualified for the Olympic women’s duet competition after finishing seventh in technical and fifth in free at the world championships.
Simoneau won gold in the women’s solo free and silver in the technical in Doha. Solo competitions are not included in the 2024 Olympic program.
The 20-year-old Scheffel, who trained with the Waterloo Region Artistic Swimming Club, now trains with the national team in Montreal. She has been a member of the national team since 2020.
The Waterloo Region Artistic Swimming Club issued posts on social media noting that “Claire is the first WRASC swimmer to be a member of an Olympic qualifying team!”
*With files from the Canadian Press
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