Olympian Savannah King elevated to full-time status as assistant coach of McGill swim team

MONTREAL – Savannah King, a two-time Olympian, has been elevated to full-time status as an assistant coach with the McGill University varsity swim team. It marks the first time in the history of the program that it has had a second full-time coach.

Last season, King played a key role in assisting bench boss Peter Carpenter as McGill swept both the men's and women's RSEQ conference titles, with a combined 43-member team roster, including 21 on the women's side.

A 30-year-old bilingual native of Vernon, B.C., who was born in Scarborough, Ont., King earned a master's degree in biomechanics and kinesiology from McGill in 2019. She completed a bachelor's degree in 2016 at UBC, where she was an All-Canadian in the pool and earned Academic All-Canadian honours in the classroom.

In 2021, King was selected for the U SPORTS Female Apprentice Coach Program, which aims to increase the number of females in coaching positions across Canadian universities. The objective is to match apprentice coaches who have recently graduated, with a head coach in one of the 11 U SPORTS-sanctioned sport offerings for female-identifying student-athletes.

A former UBC swimmer, King initially joined the McGill coaching staff in 2019 after a lengthy international career. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she finished 19th in the 400-metre freestyle and at the 2012 Games in London, she placed 15th in the 800 free and 18th in the 400 free. King also competed at the 2007 Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro, the 2009 FINA world championships in Rome, the 2010 Pan Pacific championships in California, the 2011 world championships in Shanghai and the 2013 FISU World University Games in Kazan, Russia..

King retired from competitive professional swimming in 2015 and worked as a commentator on the live stream provided by Swimming Canada at the 2017 Canadian championships. During her varsity career at UBC, was named CIS rookie of the year in 2011 and was later selected twice as the CIS swimmer of the year, in 2012 and 2013.

After learning to swim as a two-year old, when jumping into a neighbour's pool, she took up the sport competitively a few years later, at the Vernon Kokanee Swim Club in British Columbia.

King becomes the eighth woman to serve as a full-time coach with a McGill varsity program, a group that includes Rachèle Béliveau (volleyball, 1991-present), Lisen Moore (basketball, 1994-2003), Kelsey Wilson (soccer, 2018-present), Alyssa Cecere (hockey, 2020-present) and Katia Clément-Heydra (hockey, 2021-2022), Rikki Bowles (basketball, 2020-present) and Dianna Ros (basketball, 2021-22).

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
m.athletics.mcgill.ca (mobile website)
www.mcgill athletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca

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