PATH TO PARIS: USask kinesiology student seeks Olympic medal

UPDATE: Congratulations! USask kinesiology student Rylan Wiens, along with Nathan Zsombor-Murray, captured Canada's second bronze and third medal overall at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Monday, July 29.

“I first learned how to dive in my grandpa’s pool when I was about three, swimming around with water wings on,” said Wiens, now a 22-year-old College of Kinesiology student at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) and a member of the Saskatoon Diving Club who will compete in his second Olympic Games this month. “He showed me how to go head first into the pool and I followed it and from there it was history.”

Wiens has been making waves ever since, competing competitively since he was six, winning his first junior national title as a 10-year-old and making his Olympic debut in Tokyo at the age of 18. This month, he goes from the Paris of the Prairies to Paris, France to represent Canada in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in the men’s 10-metre platform individual and synchronized diving events.

Having compiled an impressive collection of medals and memorable moments from the Pan-Am Games, Commonwealth Games and the World Cup, Wiens now has his sights set on climbing the medal podium at the Olympics.

“The goal is to get a medal in Paris,” said Wiens, who qualified for his second Olympic Games with a pair of fifth-place finishes in the individual competition and synchronized event with his partner Nathan Zsombor-Murray at the World Aquatic Championships in February. “I am doing synchro with my partner from Montreal as well as my individual event, and I am going to go to try to win a medal. I know it is definitely within my capability. Preparations are going really well and I have been diving and training consistently for the past couple of months, so I am really happy with where I am at right now and I am just going to give it my all.”

Wiens competed in his first Olympic Games in Tokyo (placing 19th) in 2021, when fans were not allowed in the stands due to the ongoing pandemic. This time around, Wiens will have plenty of family and friends to cheer him on in Paris, including his parents Norman and Angela, his grandmother Fran, his brother Nolan – a fourth-year engineering student at USask – and Nolan’s girlfriend Dori – who just graduated from engineering in the spring.

“Having my family there to experience the Olympics with me this time is going to be incredible,” said Wiens, who will be joined in Paris by fellow Saskatoon club diver Margo Erlam and their club coach Mary Carroll – a member of Canada’s national team coaching staff who will be working with both of them at the Olympics. “It will be a very different experience this time with the crowd, having spectators now, and the Olympic Village and everything is going to be totally different from Tokyo. So I am super excited for the whole experience.”

Wiens will also be bringing a little bit of home with him to Paris, packing some USask Huskies attire for good luck.

“I have my green USask Huskie hoodie that is my go-to wherever I go, so it will be going with me for sure,” he said.

While he is only 22, Wiens has already been diving competitively for 16 years and by the summer of 2019 was the reigning senior and junior national champion on the 10-metre tower. His remarkable resume includes winning bronze medals in the 2021 World Cup and 2022 World Aquatics Championship, a pair of silver medals in the individual and 10-metre synchro events with Zsombor-Murray at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, a silver medal with Zsombor-Murray in the Pan-Am Games in 2023, and two more second-place finishes in the 2024 World Cup in Berlin. His memorable moments in the pool have also included breaking former Olympian Alexandre Despatie’s 15-year Canadian record in the 10m men’s platform competition in 2022.

”That was pretty cool because I have got to know Alex and it is great to get his perspective on diving,” said Wiens.

With a busy competition travel schedule combined with daily diving in the pool, workouts in the gym, and classes on campus, Wiens credits the support he receives from kinesiology professors for helping him successfully complete his courseload in his third year at USask.

“In the College of Kinesiology I have had amazing experiences with the professors and I always try to get to know them at the start of the class and just explain my situation, knowing the time I am away competing, and they have all been really understanding and supportive,” said Wiens, who plans to apply to medical school after completing his kinesiology degree. “I actually wrote an online final exam in Tokyo in 2021 while I was there for a pre-competition before the Olympics, so they have been amazingly accommodating and supportive.”

For Wiens, his dedication and determination and time management skills have helped him juggle his academic and athletic endeavours.

“It has been challenging at times to keep up with the course work and notes, but I have been able to manage it,” said Wiens, who also enjoys motorcycling and snowmobiling, as well as exploring new places on his travels. “I am training 27 hours a week in the pool, so it is quite a bit, and I am generally taking three classes at a time, so not a full course load, but it’s a lot on my plate. It just takes a lot of motivation and putting your head down and making sure you get your work done.”

With the Olympics just days away, Wiens is now fully focused on the task at hand, and back to full health after a back injury that kept him out of the pool for three months in 2023, the year he was named male athlete of the year at the Saskatchewan Sport Awards. Wiens is scheduled to compete in the men’s synchro 10 metres platform event on July 29 in Paris and the individual 10-metre competition on August 9-10, and hopes to return to Saskatoon with an Olympic medal.

“To win a medal would be amazing, to see all the hard work pay off,” said Wiens. “I am just really excited to go and just thrilled to have this opportunity and plan to make the most of it.”