Guelph swimmer sets sights on Summer Olympics in Paris

Guelph’s Tristan Jankovics is ready to join the best swimmers in the world at the Summer Olympics in Paris.

The 20-year-old shaved five seconds off his personal best time in the men’s 400m medley to qualify for Team Canada at the Olympic swim trials in May.

“I had to go from a 4:17:40, that was my personal best from the summer before, and I had to go to a 4:12:05,” Jankovics said. “The four, five seconds I have to drop, it’s a lot of time.”

The swimmer finished with a time of 4:11:74 with his family in the crowd.

“Anything can go wrong,” Tristan’s mother Ella Jankovics told CTV News. “You take one extra breath, you slip off the wall at the turn. Everything has to align, everything has to be perfect at that moment.”

Jankovics came up through the Guelph Marlin Aquatic Club, where he helped set all-time records for Swimming Canada as an 11-year-old.

“That was the first time that we saw the determination in him and that focus,” Ella Jankovics recalled.

Jankovics cited being undersized throughout his junior career, until a sudden growth spurt in high school spring-boarded his development.

“I was a pretty late bloomer,” Jankovics said. “Growing to me started a little late. I went from probably just under six feet at best to like 6’5 now.”

The Guelph native went on to swim for the Canadian Junior National Team before joining Ohio State University’s swim team, competing in six meets his freshman year.

“[Ohio State’s] facilities are world class, we have access to everything,” Jankovics said. “Coming here and having access to all these things made me realize if I wanted to do something special it had to be here.”

With his ticket punched to Paris, the newly-named Olympian returns to the pool July 28 for the men’s 400m medley. Hoping to make his family, and the next generation of Canadian swimmers proud.

“Getting to that stage where younger kids can look at me now it’s really special and I just hope I can positively impact these kids,” Jankovics said.