CALGARY – The 2025 FISU Summer World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany, officially kick off Wednesday and the University of Calgary once again has a strong contingent on hand.
Six UCalgary students/staff will represent Team Canada, while three other Dinos are set to represent their home countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Germany, respectively.
The Dinos track & field team leads the way with four delegates this year. Head coach and two-time Olympian
Jessica Zelinka will help lead Team Canada, coaching the sprints/hurdles group in Germany. Meanwhile, administrative assistant Matt Deans – who just completed his fourth season with the Dinos – joins the 10-person staff at this year's FISU Games as manager, helping oversee a litany of items with the 50-person roster.
On that roster are a pair of Dinos standout student-athletes. Sprinters
Georgia Oland and
Emma Parnetta both just completed their third year on the track for the Scarlet & Gold and will now down the Maple Leaf for the first time in their competitive careers.
Also representing the Dinos Athletic Department,
Daniels Baumanis (Latvia) and
Martynas Sabaliauskas (Lithuania) have been selected by their home countries after helping Calgary to its latest conference championship in basketball this past March.
Recent graduate and men's volleyball standout
Louis Kunstmann will also compete for his home country on his home soil as the Neuenhain, Germany native will also compete in this year's Games.
Two more UCalgary students will also compete for Team Canada, as Brynnleigh Lohner is set to participate in archery and Valerie Ho will compete in Taekwondo.
The six UCalgary representatives for Team Canada mark the fourth-most from any school at this year's games of the 38 Canadian Universities that have at least one participant.
This will be the first appearance for Canada at a Summer World University Games since Naples 2019, after missing the 2021 games (which were postponed to 2023 due to COVID) in Chengdu, China, and the cancellation of the 2023 games, which had been set for Ekaterinburg, Russia. Canada picked up six medals in 2019, one gold, one silver and four bronze.
The event is set to run from July 16-27, with events held throughout the region. (Note that swimming will be held in Berlin.)
-UC-
