World-class pool providing a wave of fast times, says Canadian swimmers

It didn’t take Hilary Caldwell long to test her mettle in the new pool.

On the second day of heats and finals at the Scarborough Pan Am Aquatic Centre, Caldwell flew through her 200-metre backstroke heat in Pan Am Games record time. Caldwell followed that with a gold-medal swim in the final, her teammate Dominique Bouchard right behind her. Breaststroker Kierra Smith also racked up two Pan Am records – one in the heats and one in the final – and grabbed gold in the women’s 200-metre breaststroke. So far there have been 15 Pan Am records broken in 56 races; five of those coming from Canadians.

So far, the Canadian swimmers are calling the state-of-the-art swimming pool in Toronto’s east end “nimble” and fast. Caldwell said she swam her trials at the aquatic centre with lukewarm results but praised the facility.

“I think the stadiums start to blend into one at a certain point. But they’ve definitely opened it up and it looks great, “she said, after her win. “It’s deep which technically means it’s fast. It was good. Definitely world class.”

Richard Funk, who swam to a silver medal in the men’s 200-metre breaststroke, likened the Scarborough pool to the one he swam in at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, only slightly louder.

“There’s so much space. It’s open. I don’t think it can get any better,” Funk said.

Bouchard said the ceilings are better than she’s seen in other venues, a significant factor for  backstrokers as they don’t have to turn and look to see where they are going. She could also hear the cheers of the crowd under the water.

“It’s definitely a fast pool. With the environment here – the home crowd - it’s even faster,” she said. I swam a little bit slower than I did at trials but I’m really excited where I’m at right now. This pool is beautiful. It’s the nicest pool in Canada. It was definitely a good investment."

In 2013 at the World Championships in Barcelona swimmers complained about a “phantom” current that propelled swimmers in some lanes and slowed swimmers in other lanes. Bouchard said the difference between a fast and less-than-fast pool – there’s no such thing as a slow pool – is when the pool is all one depth and when the currents of the pool are managed well.

The Pan Am Aquatic Centre is the largest facility built solely for the Games and is the largest investment in Canadian amateur sport history. The $205 million Field House and pool has two international 10-lane, 50-metre pools, equipped with a movable bulkhead; high ceilings and a warm up pool; and a five-metre deep diving tank with three-metre, five-metre, 7.5-metre and 10-metre diving springboards and platforms.

Canadian swimming team head coach Ben Titley said most facilities have this kind of setup around the world and is on par with the facilties for a Summer Olympics and Commonwealth Games.

“It’s truly world class. This would be as good a facility as you’ll find anywhere around the world,” he said. “The facility here lends itself to making noise.

"There might only be 6,000 or so people here, but they are right on top of you. You are just metres from the athletes.”