Sydney Pickrem

Sydney Pickrem (born May 21, 1997) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. A two-time Olympian, she won a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics as part of the Canadian 4×100 metre medley relay team, and is a seven-time World Aquatics Championships medalist.

Early years
Sydney Pickrem made her first senior national team in 2014, winning bronze medals in the 200m and 400m individual medley at Canadian Swimming Trials to earn spots at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.

Pickrem, who specializes in the breaststroke and individual medley, was selected to the 2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. In 2013, she represented Canada at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in January where she won four medals: gold in the 200m backstroke and 200m IM, and silver in the 400m IM and 200m breaststroke. At the 4th FINA World Junior Swimming Championships in Dubai, Pickrem won a bronze in the 200m IM.

In 2016, she was officially named to Canada's Olympic team for the 2016 Summer Olympics where she performed admirably, finishing sixth in the 200m individual medley as a 19 year old. In the 400m individual medley, she finished 12th in qualifying and failed to advance to the final.

2017–2021
Pickrem competed at the 2017 World Championships where she participated in both the 200m and 400m individual medleys. She qualified for the final with the third fastest time in the 200m, putting her in the running for a medal. In the final Pickrem met with disappointment when she suddenly pulled out of the pool after the 50m butterfly after apparently swallowing too much water. She bounced back and captured a bronze medal in the 400m individual medley, setting a personal best in the process. After the race an emotional Pickrem said "As much as I felt like I disappointed Canada in my 200m IM, to come back and be able to get on the podium, it's just a relief and really exciting. I'm proud to be Canadian and do that for Canada."

The 2019 World Championships were one of Pickrem's most decorated events. She won her second bronze medal in the 200m individual medley. Pickrem won a second bronze medal while swimming the breaststroke leg of the women's medley relay together with Penny Oleksiak, Maggie Mac Neil, and Kylie Masse. She set a Canadian record in the 200m breaststroke on her way to winning her third bronze medal of the competition. Her three individual bronze medals meant that she was the most decorated Canadian female swimmer at the FINA World Championships, as some of Oleksiak's medals were won in relays.

Named to Canada's 2020 Olympic team, Pickrem won a bronze medal as part of Canada's 4×100m medley relay team, again alongside Masse, Mac Neil and Oleksiak. In an interview post-race, Pickrem gained a viral social media moment when she accidentally cursed on live television while stating how nervous she was for her leg of the race. A non-Covid related illness forced Pickrem out of starting her favoured individual events the 400m individual medley and 100m breaststroke, where she had just won medals at in the FINA World Championships. She would swim the 200m medley and place in sixth position.

Pickrem brought home more hardware at the 2021 FINA World Swimming Championships (25m). In the 200m individual medley she trailed Kate Douglass and Yu Yiting after the first 100m but used her stronger breaststroke to take the lead by the 150m mark to take the gold medal. After the win, Pickrem said that "I knew I had to have my best back half, that's my strength. The times don't really matter with how my prep has been this season, it's just getting up and racing." She would add another gold after swimming the semi-final for Canadian women's 4x200 metre freestyle relay team, which won gold in the final. Pickrem also swam the breaststroke leg of the 4x100 metre medley relay, finishing in second place for her third medal of the competition.

2022–present
Following the 2021 season, Pickrem was dogged by mental health struggles. After missing the podium at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, she announced that she was withdrawing from the Canadian team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, citing "personal reasons."

After appearing at the 2023 Canadian trials and qualified for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, Pickrem subsequently withdrew, saying that she was suffering from "crippling anxiety and depression." She would later saying that she "felt like there was Sydney the person, Sydney the swimmer, Sydney the teammate, and Sydney the leader. Those were all separate entities to me. For a long time I didn't even care about Sydney the person." Pickrem returned to competition in the fall on the Swimming World Cup circuit, enjoying success. She said she was "happy to be here and trying to do the best I can every day." She was named to the Canadian team for the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, where she won gold medals in both the 200 m individual medley and the 200 m breaststroke, setting a Games record in the former. She explained afterward that the "biggest thing that me and my coach worked on, let's be the best me that I can be, and whatever swimmer that is, that's what's meant to be."

While many of Canada's top swimmers opted to skip the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Pickrem was named to the team. In her first contest of the event, she won a silver medal in the 200 metre individual medley, lowering her personal best to 2:08.56 seconds and finishing 0.45 seconds ahead of Chinese bronze medalist Yu Yiting. She went on to win a bronze medal in the 200 m breaststroke. On the final day of the championships, Pickrem swam the breaststroke leg for Canada in the heats of the 4×100 m medley relay. She was replaced by Sophie Angus in the final, but shared in the team's bronze medal win, her seventh World Aquatics medal.

Personal life
Pickrem has dual nationality having been born in the United States, her parents are both Canadians from Halifax, Nova Scotia. She comes from a sporting background as her father Darren Pickrem, played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. With roots in Nova Scotia, Pickrem also lists Clearwater, Florida as her hometown and Prince Edward Island as her favourite place to visit.