Bermuda’s Junior Pan Pacific Championships team arrived in Vancouver and completed their first training session at the UBC Aquatic Centre ahead of the competition, which starts on Monday.

Connor Hupman, Logan Jones, Noah Maranzana, Teagan Mewett and Katherine Wheddon will represent Bermuda at the championships from Monday to Thursday.

With the competition bringing together many of the leading junior swimmers from around the world, Bermuda will be competing alongside nations including the United States, Australia, Japan, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand, Mexico and Singapore.

Having arrived in Vancouver on Thursday, the swimmers were back in the pool on Friday morning for the first of three training sessions ahead of the opening day of competition.

National coach Ben Smith indicated that the opening session was an opportunity for the swimmers to recover from the travel and begin adjusting to the competition environment.

“It was good to get everyone together and into the competition pool this morning,” Smith said.

“The first session was about recovering from the travel, getting a feel for the pool and beginning our final preparation for Monday.

“Junior Pan Pacs is a significant step up in competition for our swimmers. They will be racing against some of the best junior athletes in the world and that is exactly the type of environment we want our young swimmers to experience.

“Our focus is on competing rather than simply participating. We want them to execute the races we have prepared for, challenge their personal best times and see how far they can move up against a very strong field.

“Each swimmer has different goals for this competition, but collectively we want to see them embrace the opportunity to represent Bermuda and compete with confidence.

“The experience of preparing and racing in this environment is an important part of their continued development.”

Bermuda will compete across freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly events during the four-day championships.

Connor Hupman will contest the 50-metre, 100 and 200 freestyle and the 50, 100 and 200 backstroke. Logan Jones is competing in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle and the 100 butterfly.

Noah Maranzana has been entered in the 50 and 100 freestyle, 50 butterfly and 50 breaststroke.

Teagan Mewett’s races are the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke, while Katherine Wheddon will compete in the 50, 100, 200 and 400 freestyle and the 50 butterfly.

On the opening night of the competition, Bermuda will also be contesting in the mixed 4×100 medley relay.