Image credit: Instagram/Sienna Angove

By Marty Hastings

Olympic dreams

Angove swimming with Sharks, McIntosh; set to join Buckeyes in fall

Jun 5, 2024 | 10:18 AM

SARASOTA, FL. — A tinge of discontent seemed evident in Sienna Angove’s tone of voice.

“I just missed the Olympic team … but I just have to focus on the positive part,” Angove said of her experience at the Swimming Canada Olympic Trials last month in Toronto. “Being that close to making an Olympic team is an accomplishment and I’m just looking at it that way.”

Angove, 17, proved she is among the fastest in the country and posted times in the 100-metre freestyle and 200m freestyle events that left her fingertips shy of spots on Canadian relay teams at the 2024 Olympic Summer Games, which get underway on July 26 in Paris.

“I was kind of the next choice (for a roster spot) in both of those,” Angove said, noting she fell one-tenth of a second short of cracking the 4x200m relay team. “That was definitely really hard.”

Angove posted a time of 54.89 seconds in the 100m freestyle, good for sixth in the women’s open division and first in the 13- to 18-year-old junior female category. Canadian record holder Penny Oleksiak – who is six years older than Angove — took gold, clocking in at 53.66.

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The Kamloops swimmer placed seventh in the women’s division and third in the junior female category in the 200m freestyle, posting a time of 1:58.53. Canadian record holder Summer McIntosh finished first, recording a mark of 1:53.69.

“Trials was really fun,” Angove said. “My times were great. I can’t complain about them at all and I was really happy to see that’s where I’m at.”

In the 800m freestyle, Angove (8:43.07) placed fourth in the women’s ranks and third among junior females. Julia Strojnowska (8:38:36) finished atop the podium.

Angove clocked in at 2:14.94 in the 200m medley to place eighth in the women’s category and second in the junior female division. Canadian-record holder McIntosh, 17, placed first with a time of 2:07.06.

In the 50m freestyle, Angove (25.54) finished sixth in the women’s division and first in the junior female ranks. Oleksiak won the event, with a time of 25.06.

Each of Angove’s times listed above are personal-best marks and milestones she aims to eclipse during her stay at Ohio State University, a tenure slated to begin this fall.

Angove plans to study mechanical engineering and swim for the NCAA Division One Buckeyes.

“Their team culture is really great and they have a big emphasis on long course, which is important to me because a lot of the colleges just focus on the short course for NCAA,” Angove said, noting she will be on full scholarship following her freshman year.

“The coaches are amazing, the resources are amazing and the school itself is also academically really good.”

Angove moved south to Florida more than a year ago to train with the Sarasota Sharks, an elite swim team that includes McIntosh — a four-time world champion and two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

“We’re good friends,” Angove said of McIntosh. “She’s just like a normal teenage girl. We do random things on the weekends and she’s just a fun girl to hang out with. She’s positive during practice.

“It’s a big club with some of the best coaches, in my opinion, in the world. I love them all, we get along really well and it’s just a really good environment.”

Angove is a Kamloops Classic Swimming product and trained extensively under coach Brad Dalke, who is no longer with the club.

“I definitely owe a lot to him,” she said. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without him.”

Angove said a training session in Florida over the Christmas season of 2022 spurred her move south to swim with the Sharks.

“The club [Classics] was kind of at an awkward stage, where a lot of people were graduating and there weren’t many people coming up yet, so I was kind of going to be on my own for that year or two-year period,” Angove said, noting Sarasota sunshine was a selling point. “We kind of had been looking for places I could potentially move to train at for my Grade 12 year before university.”

When asked about plans for the future, Angove was quick to mention another warm weather destination.

“LA 2028 is definitely the big goal,” Angove said. “World Championships and Commonwealth Games are in between, so I’ll focus on making those teams and seeing if I can even reach the podium.”