 Hedlin in Irvine, California, at the US Open in August 2013 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1993-04-18)April 18, 1993 (age 32) |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) |
| Weight | 178 lb (81 kg) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
| Strokes | Freestyle |
| Club | Victoria Academy of Swimming |
Eric Hedlin (born April 18, 1993) is a Canadianlong-distanceswimmer. Hedlin won a silver medal in the men's open water 5 km swim at the2013 World Aquatics Championships.[1]
Hedlin began his notable international career competing inRandy Bennett's Victoria Swim Academy that also includes major Canadian World and Olympic medallistRyan Cochrane who is also a long distance swimmer. As a member of the Canadian swim team he won a bronze medal at the2013 Summer Universiade in the men's 800 m freestyle.[2]
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 ChampionThomas Lurz and Olympic championOussama 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."[3] Hedlin was honoured with Swimming Canada's 2013 People's Choice Race of the Year award for his performance in this race.[4]
He continued to swim for theUniversity of Victoria (UVic) Vikes Varsity Swim Team through 2017, winning gold at theU SPORTS championships, and setting a new collegiate record in the 1500-metre freestyle.[5] In April that same year, Hedlin was named toCanada's2017 World Aquatics Championships team inBudapest,Hungary.[6][7] 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.[8]
In 2019, Hedlin won bronze in 5-km at the FINA world aquatics championships in Gwangju, South Korea,[9][10] and won Athlete of the Year atUVic.[11]
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.[12] 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.[13] Unfortunately, Hedlin was unable to finish the race due to medical issues and did not qualify for the team.[14]
Although Hedlin was born inCalgary,Alberta, Canada, he lived inSan Diego,California from the age of a few months until he graduated fromLa Jolla High School. At that time he returned to Canada to train in swimming and to attend the University of Victoria.[15] His older sister, Dr. Margot Hedlin, is a physician training at NYU Medicine, and his younger brother, Paul Hedlin, graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2020 with a degree in International Economics.
In the spring of 2019, Hedlin graduated from UVic with a bachelor's degree in computer science. Later that year in June, he proposed to his long-time girlfriend and fellow Vikes teammate, Taylor Snowden-Richardson. After their original wedding date in 2020 had to be postponed due to COVID-19, they married in April 2021.
Hedlin successfully defended his master's thesis in September 2021, and will be continuing his education by studying for a Ph.D.
