Aly Van Wyck-Smart Aly Van Wyck-Smart

Back in 2017, Aly Van Wyck-Smart said her goal was to compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. Her timeline was moved up a couple of years as she made her Paralympic debut at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

And she was nominated to the Paris Games team in May 2024 following the Paralympic team trials in Toronto.

At the 2023 Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester, Wyck-Smart finished seventh in the S3 50-metre breaststroke, sixth in the 150 individual medley with a personal best time of 4:27.86, and eighth place in the 50 backstroke.

At the Madeira 2022 World Para Swimming Championships, Van Wyck-Smart placed 4th in the 50-m breaststroke and fifth in the 200 freestyle, 6th in the 150 individual medley, 8th in the 50 backstroke, and 9th in the 50 freestyle.

At her first Paralympics in 2021,  Van Wyck-Smart finished 12th and 14th in the women’s 50 backstroke and 100 freestyle.

Her performance at the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships, at age 16, proved she was a strong competitor on the international scene. At the worlds in London, Wyck-Smart won a silver medal in the S2 100 backstroke and a bronze in the 50 backstroke. She also broke the Canadian and Americas records in those events.

Just prior to worlds, at the 2019 Canadian Swimming Trials, she received a Best Swim award for the best performance by a female Para swimmer at the event, after setting a new world record in the150m individual medley.

Her breakout international competition was the 2018 Cerebral Palsy International Sport & Recreation Association (CPISRA) World Games in Sant Cugat, Spain. She won four gold medals and set three personal best times, three Canadian marks (200-m freestyle S2, 100-m backstroke S2, 50-m backstroke S2) and an Americas record (100-m backstroke S2).

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

2020 Paralympic Games… 2019, 2022, 2023 IPC World Championships… Named Swimming Canada’s Breakout Para Swimmer of the Year in 2019.

PERSONAL

In 2018 she was named Female Provincial Para Athlete of the Year at the Ontario Sport Awards…. She began swimming at age 10, and started competing at age 14… She began the sport as part of her physical therapy.

NOTABLE INTERNATIONAL RESULTS

2023 World Championships 150m individual medley 6th

2023 World Championships 50m breaststroke 7th

2023 World Championships 50m backstroke 8th

2022 World Championships 50m breaststroke 4th

2022 World Championships 200m freestyle 5th

2022 World Championships 150m individual medley 6th

2022 World Championships 50m backstroke 8th

2021 Paralympic Games 50m backstroke 12th

2021 Paralympic Games 100m freestyle 14th

2019 IPC World Championships 100-m backstroke  2nd

2019 IPC World Championships 50-m backstroke 3rd