Ella Christina Jansen (born September 1, 2005) is a Canadian competitive swimmer specializing in

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

and

individual medley Medley is a combination of four different swimming styles—backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle—into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley (IM) or by four swimmers as a medley relay. Individual ...

events.

Career

A native of

Burlington, Ontario Burlington is a city in the Regional Municipality of Halton at the northwestern end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada. Along with Milton to the north, it forms the western end of the Greater Toronto Area and is also part of the Hamilton met ...

, Jansen started swimming for the Burlington Aquatic Devilrays (BAD) at the age of 6 years old. She quickly moved through the levels and started competing at the Provincial level at the age of 8 years old breaking many club records along the way. In 2019 Jansen started training at the Etobicoke Swimming club under Kevin Thornburn. She attended Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School and participated in high school swimming in the season of 2019/2020. At the 2020 OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations) Jansen beat Victoria Kwan's 2013 OFSAA record of 2:00.40 in the 200 free SC by swimming a time of 1:59.98. She was featured by CTV news that same day. She competed at the swimming trials for the Canadian team for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, with her highest finish being fourth in both the 1500 meter freestyle and the 200 meter butterfly, in the latter breaking the Ontario age group record previously set by

Penny Oleksiak Penelope Oleksiak (born June 13, 2000) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. Her country's most decorated Olympian, Oleksiak rose to fame during the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she became the first Canadian to win four medals in the same Summer Gam ...

. She did not qualify for the Olympic team, noting afterward that it was "not quite how I wanted it to go but each day it got a little better and overall, it was an amazing experience." Jansen recorded notable results domestically in 2022, winning bronze medals at the Canadian national trials in the 200 meter butterfly, 400 meter freestyle, and 400 meter individual medley. While she did not qualify for the World team, she was named to the Canadian team for the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, as well as for the

Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships The Pan Pacific Swimming Championships is a long course swimming event first held in 1985.Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

. She and teammate Katrina Bellio then lead Etobicoke Swimming club to victory at the Eastern Canadian Championships. Competing in Birmingham as a 16-year old, she made her first major international final, coming fifth in the 400 m individual medley with a time of 4:40.17. Assessing the result afterward, Jansen said "the goal today was just to make the final. I wanted the time to be under 4:40 so there’s still a lot of room to improve." Jansen swam for the Canadian team in the heats of the 4×100 m mixed freestyle relay, helping them qualify to the final. She was replaced by Rebecca Smith in the final, but shared in the team's bronze medal win. She later was part of the finals team in the 4×200 m freestyle relay, swimming the second leg and winning a silver medal. This was Jansen's first major international podium, of which she said she "didn't expect it going into the meet. It was all so amazing to swim with the girls and get the medal." She also reached the final of the

400 m freestyle 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

and placed seventh with a time of 4:10.69, stating that she had come up just short of her goal of going under the 4 minute and 10 second mark.

Swimming Canada Swimming Canada is the Canadian national governing body for competitive swimming in the country. Swimming Canada oversees the management of all swim programs throughout the nation and provides the foundation for beginner-level athletes to train ...

subsequently named her their Breakout Swimmer of the Year for 2022. In September 2022, Jansen moved to train at High Performance Center in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

under Ryan Mallette and Rob Novak. At the 2023 Canadian trials, she succeeded in qualifying for the World team for the first time, earning assignments to the 2023 edition in

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

. In her lone individual event, she came twenty-second in the heats of the

. She went on to swim for Canada in the heats of the 4×200 m freestyle relay. Jansen was also named to the Canadian team for the

2023 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships The 9th World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships were held in Netanya, Israel, at the Wingate Institute from 4 to 9 September 2023. These championships were the first to be held under the new World Aquatics name and branding. The age groups ...

Netanya Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...

, where she won an individual silver medal in the 400 m individual medley to begin, followed by a bronze with the 4×200 m freestyle relay team. She would go on to win three additional relay medals. While many of Canada's top swimmers opted to skip the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

, Jansen was named to the team. She was part of the Canadian team in the heats of the 4×100 m freestyle relay, helping them advance to the final. She was replaced there by

Katerine Savard Katerine Savard (born May 26, 1993) is a Canadian competitive swimmer who specializes in women's butterfly events and freestyle relay. She holds several Canadian national records in the butterfly over the 50-, 100-, and 200-metre distances in bo ...

, but shared in the team's eventual bronze medal win; this was Jansen's first World Aquatics medal.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jansen, Ella 2005 births Living people Canadian female freestyle swimmers Canadian female butterfly swimmers Canadian female medley swimmers Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Canada Swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Burlington, Ontario 21st-century Canadian women