(VERSION FRANÇAISE SUIT)
QUEBEC CITY – The McGill University men's swim team dominated the first Coupe de Québec senior meet of the season, held Nov. 28–30 at Laval's PEPS short-course pool. The Redbirds posted 15 podium finishes – one gold, six silver and eight bronze – and added a new U SPORTS national qualifier.
McGill tallied 2,751 points to easily outdistance Club Athlétique de Montréal (1,964) in a field of 296 men from 54 clubs.
Alejandro Giggey , a science senior from Ottawa, became McGill's 19th male qualifier for the U SPORTS Nationals after making the 200 breaststroke cut in 2:16.57 (the standard was 2:16.64).
Artiom Volodin, a 22-year-old computer engineering junior from Montreal, won gold in the 400-metre freestyle (3:49.59) and picked up silvers in both, the 800 free (8:05.76) and 200 free (1:48.19).
Senior Erik Linseisen of Burlington, Vt., took three individual silvers (50 breaststroke, 200 breast, 50 butterfly). He also swam the third leg of the silver-medal winning 4×50 freestyle relay (with Augustin Boussion, River He and Tristan Govier) and the second leg of a bronze-medal finish in the 4×50 medley relay (with Romain Vanmoen, Govier, Boussion).
Other bronze medals came from Govier (100 fly), He (100 breast, and the 100 free, where he clocked 50:12 to tie with teammate Karl Ghannam,Yegor Semenyuk (200 fly), Torren Vandersteen (1,500 free) and Vanmoen (50 back).
Head coach Peter Carpenter said the team's depth was key to the result. "The meet went very well from a performance standpoint," he said. "We won the meet by a wide margin, which is always gratifying, but our focus was to take stock of where we are after the first cycle of training. Things are looking good. We had several team records, which is great, and the main purpose was to get new qualifiers for Nationals. We added one on each side, so all in all, it was a great weekend."
Two McGill students competing for the Club Athlétique de Montréal also stood out.
Loïc Courville-Fortin, named male swimmer of the meet, won four gold medals and set a senior provincial record in the 50 back (24.24), adding titles in the 100 back (52.29), 200 back (1:55.65) and 200 individual medley (1:58.86).
Hocine Feddag of Montreal won silver in the 50 freestyle (22.51) and bronze in the 200 freestyle (1:49.34).
The Redbirds return to RSEQ University Cup action Jan. 31, 2026, at Laval, then head to Sherbrooke for the conference championship Feb. 13–15, followed by the U SPORTS championship in Hamilton, Ont., March 12-14.
LINK TO WOMEN'S RECAP
COMPLETE RESULTS
McGill Redbirds – Medal Summary (Coupe de Québec, Nov. 28–30, 2025)
Gold (1)
• Artiom Volodin – 400 freestyle, 3:49.59
Silver (6)
• 4×50 freestyle relay – 1:32.04
Augustin Boussion, River He, Erik Linseisen, Tristan Govier
• Erik Linseisen – 50 breaststroke, 27.79
• Erik Linseisen – 200 breaststroke, 2:14.47
• Erik Linseisen – 50 butterfly, 24.06
• Artiom Volodin – 800 freestyle, 8:05.76
• Artiom Volodin – 200 freestyle, 1:48.19
Bronze (8)
• Tristan Govier – 100 butterfly, 54.02
• River He – 100 breaststroke, 1:01.47
• River He – 100 freestyle, 50.12 (tie)
• Karl Ghannam – 100 freestyle, 50.12 (tie)
• Yegor Semenyuk – 200 butterfly, 2:02.84
• Torren Vandersteen – 1500 freestyle, 15:43.61
• Romain Vanmoen – 50 backstroke, 25.36
• 4×50 medley relay – 1:40.79
Romain Vanmoen, Erik Linseisen, Tristan Govier, Augustin Boussion
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SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
CELL: 514-983-7012
E-MAIL:earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
