OTTAWA – Four young men and four young women have been given the opportunity to wear the maple leaf at the FINA World Junior Open Water Championships this summer.

The selections were made based off of the results of the Flowers Sea Swim, which was held in the Cayman Islands last week.

Canada sent 17 athletes between the ages of 15-18 to the event, where they were placed into one of two categories for selection based on their year of birth. The top two Canadian finishers in each group were selected to compete at the world junior championships.

Édouard Bélanger finished first among Canadians for men born in 1997-1998. His time of 2:20:50.21 put him in third place overall, while Vincent Laperle finished in fourth with a time of 2:23:12.36. For Canadian men born in 1999-2000, it was David Pouliot who topped the field with his sixth-place finish and 2:23:27.99 time. Canadian teammate Connor Walker came in 12th at 2:31:20.11.

On the women’s side, Victoria Mock and Lauren Teghtsoonian were the ’97-’98 Canadian standouts, with eighth-place Mock finishing in 2:25:23.80 and ninth-place Teghtsoonian in 2:27:38.14. The ’99-’00 group saw Imani Theodore finish in 11th overall with a time of 2:29:13.17 and Jersey Bishop in 14th with 2:30:26.77.

“Swimming Canada is very pleased with the turnout in the Caymans for the Flowers Sea Swim selection event,” said National Development Coach Ken McKinnon. “The selection races were very competitive which bodes well for the team come July.

“Head Coach Michel Berube is looking forward to taking this small but tough group of athletes to the next level.”

The championships will be held in Hoorn, Netherlands, from July 16-18.

Official results: http://flowersseaswim.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/10k-Overall-Results-1.pdf