Sinclair Aims To Make Major Splash

By Ron Rauch, Times Colonist

UVic star back from health troubles and ready to make run at Olympics

When Nick Sinclair splashes into the University of Calgary Aquatic Centre at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport swimming championships, he will be wondering what he could have done had it been a normal year.

For the 19-year-old from the University of Victoria, it has been anything but normal for him.

Last summer, Sinclair developed thoracic outlets syndrome which caused his left arm to swell up.

"The thoracic outlets syndrome caused some problems for me in the water," said Sinclair, an Oak Bay grad who came to UVic on an academic scholarship. "It was a gradual thing and it took a lot of testing to figure out what it was. In September, I had a rib removed so the vein in my arm wasn't pinched."

After six weeks of recovery time, he got back into the pool but two weeks later he developed mononucleosis.

"I got back to full-time training in January," said Sinclair, who is taking sciences. "I'm in good shape and feeling good but I did miss a lot of training. I feel ready for some fast swims but I just don't know how good they could have been had I had a normal year."

Sinclair, who was the Canada West rookie of the year in 2010, will swim in four events -100 and 200 backstroke, 200 and 400 freestyle.

"My goal is to make the 2012 Canadian Olympic team," said Sinclair. "The only good thing about the setbacks happening now is that it is not an Olympic year."

Some of the other Vikes from the team of 26 expected to have solid swims at the nationals are 2008 Olympian Ryan Cochrane (400 and 1,500 freestyle), Richard Weinberger (200, 400 and 1,500 freestyle and 200 backstroke), Aimeson King (200, 400 and 1,500 freestyle), Craig Dagnall (200, 400 and 1,500 freestyle), Hilary Caldwell (backstroke, butterfly and individual medley), Stephanie Horner (freestyle, individual medley and butterfly) and Ella Darling (backstroke). Horner, who is from Beaconsfield, Que., also competed at the 2008 Olympic Games. The other Olympians in the field are Erica Morningstar from Calgary, UBC's Savannah King and Luke Hall from the University of Toronto.

"We have a very strong team and it will be awesome to watch this event," said Sinclair.

At the three-day meet, the University of Calgary Dinos will be trying to defend both the men's and women's titles. Swimmers from UBC have dominated this event, winning 14 women's titles and 10 consecutive men's crowns from 1998 to 2007.

The CIS championships will serve as a selection event for the World University Games. All individual gold medallists will automatically earn an invitation to represent Canada in August at the 2011 Summer Universiade in China.

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