Savannah King, a two-time Olympian, was elevated to full-time status in June, 2022, as an assistant coach with the McGill University varsity swim team. It marked the first time in the history of the program that it had a second full-time coach.
In 20201-22, 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 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.
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 became 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).
