SANTIAGO – Calgary Dinos swimmer Stephen Calkins picked up a pair of bronze medals for Team Canada at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.

In his Pan American Games debut, Calkins was the among 36 men and women named to the squad by Swimming Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee, which included several Olympians – including former Dinos swimmer Rachel Nicol.  

Shortly after racing to his Pan American Games nomination at the 2023 Bell Canadian Swimming Trials in April, Calkins was named UCalgary's Male Athlete of the Year for the 2022-23 season after his return to the varsity squad and leading the men's team to their record-tying 21st Canada West Championship.  

The pair of bronze medals adds to the swimmers' growing collection of international hardware, which includes a duo of bronze from last year's Commonwealth Games.

After helping his team advance to the finals on the first day of competition, Calkins split 49.29 to assist the Canadian team of Javier Acevedo, Edouard Fullum-Huot and Finlay Knox to take bronze in the men's 400 freestyle relay in 3:15.83, behind teams from Brazil and the USA. 

In the following preliminaries, the UCalgary swimmer split 49.68 in the mixed 400 medley relay when he teamed up with Fullum-Huot, Brooklyn Douthwright and Katerine Savard to advance the Canadian team to the finals with their time of 3:30.05. After changing up the team between sessions, the finals squad of Maggie Mac Neil, Acevedo, Mary-Sophie Harvey and Knox grabbed bronze for the Canadians.    

In his final event of the competition, the Dinos Male Athlete of the Year posted 22.85 in the men's 50 freestyle to advance to the B final where he finished 13th overall. His time which advanced him to the finals was 0.16 seconds faster than his preliminary swim at the Commonwealth Games last summer. 

Calkins was joined by former UCalgary swimmer Rachel Nicol, who won two gold medals in Chile. 

Nicol topped the podium in the women's 100 breaststroke, touching with a time of 1:07.28, 0.27 seconds ahead of Canadian teammate Sophie Angus and was also part of the gold-medal winning 400 medley relay team that included former Victoria Vikes swimmer Danielle Hanus, Mac Neil and Harvey. 

Calkins and the rest of the Dinos swim teams will be in action at home this November when they play host to the Canada West Championships at the UCalgary Aquatic Centre, Nov 24-26. 

-UC-