Eric Hedlin

Hedlin began his notable international career competing in Randy Bennett's Victoria Swim Academy that also includes major Canadian World and Olympic medalist Ryan Cochrane who is also a long distance swimmer. As a member of the Canadian swim team he won a bronze medal at the 2013 Summer Universiade in the men's 800 m freestyle.

Hedlin qualified for the 2013 World Aquatics Championships by finishing 16th at the FINA World Cup event in Cancun Mexico in April of that year. This put him into the 5 km race where he was in a dogfight with former World Champion Thomas Lurz and Olympic champion Oussama Mellouli. Hedlin said of the race that " "I am really happy, because I didn't expect [to beat Lurz]. It felt pretty good. I was trying to hold a top position and stay in everyone's draft. In the final sprint, Oussama was so much quicker than me, and I couldn't do anything to beat him."Hedlin was honored with Swimming Canada's 2013 People's Choice Race of the Year award for his performance in this race.

He continued to swim for the University of Victoria (UVic) Vikes Varsity Swim Team through 2017, winning gold at the U SPORTS championships, and setting a new collegiate record in the 1500-metre freestyle.[5] In April that same year, Hedlin was named to Canada's 2017 World Aquatics Championships team in Budapest, Hungary. He also was selected to represent Canada at the 2017 FISU Universiade in Taipei.

At the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships, Eric Hedlin captured silver in the 10-km open water race, and also finished eighth in the 1500-m freestyle. Hedlin later won gold in the 10-km race at the 2018 UANA Open Water Swimming Championships in the Cayman Islands, and won Swimming Canada’s Male Open Water Swimmer of the Year.

In 2019, Hedlin won bronze in 5-km at the FINA world aquatics championships in Gwangju, South Korea, and won Athlete of the Year at UVic.

Prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Hedlin was awarded the President's Cup from UVic, for his combination of academic and athletic success that season. He continued to train through the pandemic, despite Olympic Trials being postponed until the following year.

In 2021, Hedlin was named as one of 4 athletes to compete on behalf of Canada at Olympic Trials for the 10-km open water race. Unfortunately, Hedlin was unable to finish the race due to medical issues and did not qualify for the team. 

In 2022, Eric was named to the Canadian World Championships Open Water Team, but was unable to compete due to medical reasons.

In 2023, Eric won the 5km and came second in the 10km Canadian Open Water Trials, and earned a place on the World Championship Team going to Japan, as well as a place on the 2023 Pan American Games Team.