Kingston area swimmer Ben Winterborn hopes to follow other local athletes like sailor Ali ten Hove, rowers Jenny Casson, Will Crothers and others who have competed in the Summer Olympics by qualifying for the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
“That’s the big end goal right now,” he said in an interview with Tourism Kingston. “The Commonwealth Games this year then next year there’s a couple of (national) teams, either the Pan Am Games or world championships and the Olympics in 2028.”
The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow Scotland are from July 23 to August 2.
Winterborn, 20, grew up in Kingston and Napanee. In Glasgow he’ll be competing in the 50, 100 and 200 metre men’s backstroke races and he’ll be on the men’s 4 by 100 and 200 freestyle relay and the men’s 400 medley relay teams.
At first, he thought he didn’t make the swim team for the Commonwealth Games but due to some swimmers dropping out he got the call to join Team Canada.
It was a huge surprise and awesome.
His father, a former swimmer, signed him up at nine years-old and he immediately fell in love with the sport after joining the Kingston Blue Marlins where he trained mostly at the Artillery Park pool but also at Queen’s University and the YMCA of Eastern Ontario in Kingston.
"I remember at a young age and being really challenged, probably at 10 or 11 years-old and doing these workouts kids of that age don’t really get.” Winterborn told Tourism Kingston in a recent interview. “That’s when I feel in love with being competitive and to learn you want more."
“I just remember some crazy tough sets and pushed myself at a young age and from then onwards just making some great friends, going to swim meets and getting a chance to travel all over the country.”
At 16 years-old Winterborn won two provincial silver medals which encouraged him to work and train even harder to meet his goals. “I wanted to keep doing this and see where it would take me.”
Winterborn said he’s is grateful for Carla Igimundson, the club’s assistant head coach, for his youth swimming and Ken Anderson, executive director and head coach during his high-performance training.
“It’s funny because you spend so much time with them, they almost become another parental figure and they have such an impact on your life,” he said. “Both Carla and Ken have a really special place in my heart.”
After grade 11, he moved to Toronto to join a high-performance swim club and at the end of grade 12 he made the national team and attended the Pan-Pacific championships in Australia.
“Basically, I started swimming full-time and did my high school online for my grade 12 and swam in Toronto.”
While in grade 12 at Ecole Mille Isle he was recruited by the University of Calgary but before attending the university he realized he was substantially improving his times and wanted a better university sport experience.
“Then another opportunity came through to move to one of our national training centres and I could attend the University of Toronto and still be able to compete for the varsity team without training with them but training at the national centre.”
“I could get the best training, the best coaches, the best resources in the country and then I could go to U of T and swim with the varsity team.”
He is going into his third year of Political Science studies in Toronto.
Winterborn had a successful 2025-26 university sport season; at the Ontario University Athletics championship he finished 2nd in the 100 and 50 metre backstroke, 3rd 200 back, fifth in the 200 freestyle, 1st in the 400 free relay and 2nd in the 800 free relay.
At the USports championship his best swims were a second-place finish in the 200 free and fourth in the 100 back. While doing the backstroke portion for the Blues finished second in the 400 medley and also helped the team earn a silver medal in the 400 free.
Winterborn, just finished second year of his political science degree, he plans on taking five years to complete it while using up all of his athletic eligibility.
“I’ll stay here as long as they’ll have me.”
