Doha 2024 World Aquatics Championships
Schedule, results and how to watch >
Ottawa, January 30, 2024 - The Water Polo Canada Women’s National Team arrived today in Doha, Qatar, for the 2024 World Aquatics Championships, which will be the squad’s last opportunity to earn one of the last two spots available for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The Canadian team just recently finished a training camp of a little more than two weeks in California, U.S.A., and Australia. There, the group notably played against the national teams of those two countries, which have both already qualified for Paris and have respectively won six and three Olympic medals since the introduction of the women’s tournament at the 2000 Games.
“The team’s preparation has been outstanding,” said the Water Polo Canada Women’s National Team Head Coach, David Paradelo. “We had the opportunity to play the USA in Long Beach as well as Australia in Gold Coast and Brisbane. The progression of the team has been great. These preparations give us something new to adjust to every time we play a different country, enabling us to balance our system against different approaches. The girls are working extremely hard with the same big objective in mind. We are well rounded up, we cleaned up a bunch of details and we are ready to put it all in place at this tournament.”
“Playing against Australia and the USA has been very important for us in our preparation leading towards the World Championships in Doha,” said the Water Polo Canada Women’s National Team Captain Emma Wright. “We needed to get games and experience together, and playing against these top-level teams has allowed us to properly prepare. Throughout this time, the team has pushed through adversity and come together in games in order to perform. We are definitely looking forward to the start of the World Championships!”
Tournament starts Sunday, February 4
Canada will launch the preliminary phase in Group D on Sunday, February 4, at 12:30pm (ET) against South Africa, which finished 12th at last summer’s World Championships in Fukuoka. The Canadian team will play its following game on Tuesday, February 6, at 4am (ET) against Great Britain, which is aiming to get back to the Olympic Games for the first time since London 2012, when it was the host country. Canada will end group phase play on Thursday, February 8, at 4am (ET) against Italy, the silver medalist at Rio 2016 and the bronze medalist at the World Championships held in Fukuoka, but which didn’t qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. After that, the schedule for the following round will be made available after each game.
In order to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at these 2024 World Aquatics Championships, the Canadian Team will have to be one of the top two teams among those that have not already qualified for the Olympic Games. This will be the last qualification event and opportunity for the team heading towards the Paris Olympic Games. The teams that have already qualified for the women’s Olympic tournament are: Australia, China, France, Greece, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain and the United States.
“It’s a very important tournament not only because this is the World Championships, but mostly because it will be our last chance to qualify for the Olympic Games,” noted Axelle Crevier. “We have been preparing for some time, so I hope this tournament will allow us to achieve our goals. We start the tournament with two easier matches, which will prepare us to face Italy.”
Games will be streamed on the CBC Sports (https://www.cbc.ca/sports/streaming-schedule?sport=Aquatics-Water-Polo), Radio-Canada Sports (https://ici.radio-canada.ca/sports/diffusions and https://ici.tou.tv/en-direct) and World Aquatics (https://www.worldaquatics.com/watch-live) web platforms.
Canadian Women’s National Team for the 2024 World Aquatics Championships
BAKOC, Verica (Toronto, ON) - Mavericks
BROWNE, Serena (Pointe-Claire, QC) - DDO
CARROLL, Floranne (Montréal, QC) - CAMO
CREVIER, Axelle (Montréal, QC) - CAMO
GAUDREAULT, Jessica (Ottawa, ON) - Capital Wave
GUÈVREMONT, Daphné (Montréal, QC) - CAMO
LA ROCHE, Shae (Winnipeg, MB) - Winnipeg Bushido/EAU Laval
LEKNESS, Rae (Calgary, AB) - Calgary Renegades
LEMAY-LAVOIE, Elyse (Montréal, QC) - CAMO
MCDOWELL, Blaire (Fernie, B.C.) - Water Polo Saskatchewan
McKELVEY, Hayley (North Delta, B.C.) - Pacific Storm
MIMIDES, Maria Eleni (Marilia) (Glyfada, GRE, & Toronto, ON) - DDO
PAUL, Kindred (Spruce Grove, AB) - Edmonton Tsunami - Edmonton Tsunami
VULPISI, Clara (Montréal, QC) - CAMO
WRIGHT, Emma (Whitby, ON) - Scarborough Shadow Water polo
Alternate: DAVIS, Lucy (Port Moody, B.C.) - Pacific Storm
Water Polo Canada Women’s National Team Support Staff for the 2024 World Aquatics Championships
Head Coach: David Paradelo
Assistant Coaches: Cora Campbell & Stefano Posterivo
Massage Therapist: Manon Prieur
Physiotherapist: Brian Li
Mental Performance Coach (preparatory training camp): Sommer Christie
Video Coach: Francisco Zelaya
Team Manager: Mitch Kaufman
High Performance Director: Olivier Pineau
Hélène Painchaud from Montréal, QC, will for her part be attending the 2024 World Aquatics Championships as a referee.
More information is available on Water Polo Canada’s website at https://waterpolo.ca/content/doha-2024.
