West Virginia College swimming and diving head coach Brent MacDonald introduced that three-time Canadian Olympian Sydney Pickrem will be part of the employees as an assistant males’s and ladies’s swimming coach. Pickrem will be part of the crew after the Paris 2024 Olympic Video games, the place she is scheduled to compete later this month.
Pickrem informed SwimSwam on Thursday that taking the function doesn’t imply the top of her aggressive profession. “I’m undoubtedly nonetheless swimming, not retiring any time quickly!” she mentioned.
Pickrem beforehand accomplished on the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Video games, which included a bronze medal because the breaststroker on Canada’s girls’s medley relay. She additionally positioned sixth within the 200 IM in Tokyo and Rio individually.
Pickrem, 27, additionally has seven World Aquatics Championship medals. Earlier this yr, she received silver within the 200 IM; in 2019 she received bronze within the 200 IM; and in 2017 she received bronze within the 400 IM. Her different 4 World Championship medals had been in relays.
She additionally has 5 World Championship medals briefly course, together with two gold medals.
Pickrem is the second rent of recent head coach MacDonald since he was employed away from Xavier in Might. The primary was former Texas A&M males’s assistant Michael Walker, who helped coach Pickrem in recent times at A&M.
“Sydney is a very thrilling rent for us,” MacDonald mentioned. “It will likely be nice to have such a robust instance of grit, perseverance and success on the pool deck on daily basis. In my conversations together with her, it was clear that she has a ardour for educating the game and what it takes to be nice. She has been readying herself to take a training function over the previous few years, and we’re excited to have her land in Morgantown after the Olympics.”
Pickrem additionally chaired the Olympic Program Athlete Council for Swimming Canada. On this function, she advocated for the wants of athletes within the Olympic program.
Pickrem competed collegiately at Texas A&M from 2015-2019. As an Aggie, she was an 11-time All-American and was Texas A&M’s Athlete of the Yr in 2017 and 2018.
As a crew, Texas A&M received the SEC convention title from 2016-2019.
Pickrem was the SEC Freshman of the Yr and an SEC champion within the 400-yard IM in 2016. She received three SEC titles in 2017 (200 breast, 400 IM, 800 freestyle relay) and 4 SEC titles in 2018 (200 breast, 200 IM, 400 IM, 800 free relay).
Pickrem was named SEC Swimmer of the Yr for the 2017-18 season and was named First Staff All-America after putting third within the 200 breaststroke on the NCAA Championships.
In her sophomore season, Pickrem positioned second within the 400 IM, fourth within the 200 IM and fourth within the 200 breaststroke on the NCAA Championships.
In her ultimate season, Pickrem positioned third within the 200 IM, second within the 400 IM and second within the 200 breaststroke on the NCAA Championships. On the time of her commencement, Pickrem held college data within the 200 IM, 400 IM and the 800 free relay.
Pickrem is a local of Dunedin, Florida, and graduated from Texas A&M in 2020 with a level in Kinesiology.
The West Virginia girls completed sixth out of 8 groups and the lads completed fifth out of 5 groups final season of their first season within the Huge 12. The convention will look very totally different subsequent season with the departure of the dominant Texas Longhorns and the addition of Utah, Arizona, and the defending NCAA males’s champions Arizona State.
