Best of the West Fest 2026
Best of the West Fest 2026
Winnipeg, MB
April 23-26, 2026
(written by Coach Francois Coetzer)
Young OSC Swimmers Shine at new Best of the West Fest!
Just over a week ago OSC sent 15 swimmers to Winnipeg to attend the first ever Best of the West Fest, a return to racing across the western provinces of Canada. It was a great opportunity for these swimmers to experience a new level of competition that many of these athletes missed out on after the cancellation of Canadian Western Championships.
The level of competition brought out some outstanding moments from our swimmers including club and Provincial records: a clear result of the hard work in training from these swimmers.
NEW PROVINCIAL RECORD!!
On the final day of the competition, 12 year old Tao So dove into the water and swam the race of a lifetime setting a new Provincial Record in the 800m Freestyle with a time of 9:22.71 breaking a 24 year old record! Congratulations Tao!
NEW CLUB RECORDS!
Tao So may have capped off his weekend with a Provincial Record, but leading up to his final event he also broke 4 more club records. The oldest of these records was in the 200m Backstroke where Tao broke the record of long time OSC swimmer, parent and volunteer Scott Flowers, a record that stood for over 40 years!! The other 3 records came in 400 Free, 800 Free and 400IM. Clearly distance and strokes is Tao’s favourite. Congratulations Tao on an amazing weekend!
Podium Finishes!
OSC came home with some silverware (or wooden tablets for those who know!)
OSC Podiums:
Layne Birbeck - Silver 200 Breast & 50 Breast
Joshua Bodet - Bronze 200 Back & 400 Free, Silver 800 Free
Tucker Buhler - Bronze 800 Free
Alex Lim - Bronze 100 Fly
Tao So - Gold 1500 Free, 400 Free & 800 Free
Leo Wang - Silver 200 IM, 200 Back, 200 Free & Bronze 400 IM
Top Performances!
Finally to add to the accolades we had some swimmers achieve Top 1 & Top 10 times, these are times that place swimmers in the top 1% or 10% of swimmers in the country and these swimmers will be recognized by Swim Alberta at the upcoming Summer Provincial Championships in Calgary at the end of July:
Alex Lim - Top 10 - 100 Fly
Tao So - Top 1 - 1500 Free, 400 Free & 800 Free
Leo Wang - Top 10 - 200 IM & 400 IM
Kendall Zaboroski - Top 10 - 200 Breast
NEW CANADIAN TRIALS QUALIFIER!!
Alex Lim swam the race of his career in the 200 Backstroke with a time of 2:11.19 earning him qualification to the Canadian Swimming Trials in Montreal this July! Congratulations Alex on your hard work and amazing results!
The OSC family of coaches, swimmers and parents are extremely proud of all our swimmers at this meet, and once again showing how hard work and dedication can lead to major success!