Sydney Pickrem

Early life

Carwise Middle School Sydney Pickrem attended Joseph L. Carwise Middle School in Palm Harbor, Florida. She competed on the Carwise Girls Track Team while she was there.

East Lake High School Sydney Pickrem was born May 21, 1997 in Dunedin, Florida. She attended East Lake High School in Tarpon Springs where she swam for East Lake Coach Tim O'Keefe and would hold state championship individual titles in backstroke, breaststroke, and individual medley.

As a High School Freshman at East Lake, she captured a state championship in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:02.91, taking a strong lead throughout the event, and finishing only a second from the state record. She was named "Girls Swimmer of the Year" by the Tampa Bay Times. As a Sophomore at the 2012 Class 3A Florida State Championship meet, Pickrem won the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:01.40.

As an East Lake Junior, she was a conference champion in the 100 backstroke with a county record time of 56.25, and also held the county record time of 2:02.16 in the 200 individual medley. As an East Lake Senior in November, 2014 at the Class 4A Florida State Swimming and Diving Championships, Pickrem captured two more state titles with a first in the 200 Individual Medley with a time of 1:59.17, and another first in the 100 backstroke with a time of 54.72. With Pickrem's East Lake won the team state title that year.

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

Specializing in the breaststroke and individual medley, she 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.

Texas A&M Pickrem attended Texas A&M University where she swam for Hall of Fame women's coach Steve Bultman. At Texas A&M, she was an All-American 11 times and as a more distinctive form of recognition was awarded the Texas A&M Athlete of the Year award in 2017 and 2018. 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."

2016 Olympics 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 the preliminary heats and failed to advance to the finals. 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. 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 in the FINA World Championships. She also swam the 200m medley at the 2020 Olympics and placed in sixth position. 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."

After appearing at the 2023 Canadian trials and qualifying for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, Pickrem subsequently withdrew, saying that she was suffering from "crippling anxiety and depression." She would later state 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."

2023 Swimming World Cup 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."

2023 Pan American Games 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."

2024 World Aquatics Championships 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. 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.

2024 Olympics Pickrem again represented Canada at the 2024 Paris Olympics, capturing a sixth place finish in the women’s 200-meter individual medley and finishing ninth in the 200-meter breaststroke.

Personal life Pickrem holds dual nationality from being born in the United States to Canadian parents 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.

Personal bests Long course (50-meter pool) Event Time Venue Date Notes 100 m freestyle 55.41 Toronto, Canada May 26, 2021 100 m breaststroke 1:07.20 Clovis, California, USA June 7, 2019 200 m breaststroke 2:22.63 Toronto, Canada April 3, 2019 200 m individual medley 2:08.56 Doha, Qatar February 12, 2024 400m individual medley 4:32.88 Budapest, Hungary July 30, 2017

Short course (25-meter pool) Event Time Venue Date Notes 50m breaststroke 31.60 Eindhoven, Netherlands December 3, 2021 200m individual medley 2:04.00 Budapest, Hungary November 21, 2020 NR 400m individual medley 4:23.68 Budapest, Hungary November 15, 2020 former NR