TORONTO — Kirsten Sweetland headlines a group of five first-time Olympians on the Canadian triathlon team that will compete at the Summer Olympics in Rio.
A 10-year veteran of the national team, the 27-year-old Sweetland won silver at the Commonwealth Games in 2014.
Sweetland, from Victoria, missed out on the 2012 London Games because of a series of injuries related to one of her legs being slightly longer than the other. She also missed the Pan Am Games last year after being sidelined with a bacterial infection.
She’ll be joined by Amelie Kretz of Blainville, Que., and Sarah-Anne Brault of Quebec City at Fort Copacabana in August. The men’s team includes Tyler Mislawchuk of Oak Bluff, Man., and Andrew Yorke of Caledon East, Ont.
"This means everything to me," Sweetland said in a release. "It’s so much sweeter after the struggle I have had over the last 10 years to get here. After a breakout season in 2014, and then facing an unimaginable amount of health issues, I never lost sight of my dream. To say it’s been tough would be an understatement, but I have never been happier.
"I am so proud of everyone on our team. Triathlon Canada is host to an amazing group of talented young athletes so to see our group perform when it counts is a really good sign for well beyond Rio."
Kretz, 23, finished a career-best eighth at the final Olympic qualifying race on the World Triathlon Series in Japan last month. Brault, 26, has five top-15 finishes on the World Triathlon Series.
Mislawchuk, 21, has two career top-10 finishes on the World Triathlon Series while Yorke, 27, led the Canadian men with a fourth-place finish at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
"We have nominated a group of fiercely dedicated athletes who have been focused on making steady progress while developing into elite-level athletes," said Triathlon Canada high-performance director Jono Hall. "While still young in many respects, each of them have achieved great successes throughout their continued development and have demonstrated the potential to get Canada back on the podium at elite international triathlon races in the near future.
"As a team we are going to continue to take positive strides together, with the common goal of re-establishing Canada as an international power in the sport of triathlon."
Canada earned three women’s and two men’s start positions based on its international ranking.
