Eric Hedlin

Hedlin began his notable international career competing in Randy Bennett's Victoria Swim Academy that also includes major Canadian World and Olympic medallist Ryan Cochrane who is also a long distance swimmer. As a member of the Canadian swim team he won a bronze medal at the 2013 Summer Universiade in the men's 800 m freestyle.[2]

Hedlin qualified for the 2013 World Aquatics Championships by finishing 16th at the FINA World Cup event in Cancun Mexico in April of that year. This put him into the 5 km race where he was in a dogfight with former World Champion Thomas Lurz and Olympic champion Oussama Mellouli. Hedlin said of the race that " "I am really happy, because I didn't expect [to beat Lurz]. It felt pretty good. I was trying to hold a top position and stay in everyone's draft. In the final sprint, Oussama was so much quicker than me, and I couldn't do anything to beat him."[3] Hedlin was honoured with Swimming Canada's 2013 People's Choice Race of the Year award for his performance in this race.[4]

He continued to swim for the University of Victoria (UVic) Vikes Varsity Swim Team through 2017, winning gold at the U SPORTS championships, and setting a new collegiate record in the 1500-metre freestyle.[5] In April that same year, Hedlin was named to Canada's 2017 World Aquatics Championships team in Budapest, Hungary.[6][7] He also was selected to represent Canada at the 2017 FISU Universiade in Taipei.

At the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships, Eric Hedlin captured silver in the 10-km open water race, and also finished eighth in the 1500-m freestyle. Hedlin later won gold in the 10-km race at the 2018 UANA Open Water Swimming Championships in the Cayman Islands, and won Swimming Canada’s Male Open Water Swimmer of the Year.[8]

In 2019, Hedlin won bronze in 5-km at the FINA world aquatics championships in Gwangju, South Korea,[9][10] and won Athlete of the Year at UVic.[11]

Prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Hedlin was awarded the President's Cup from UVic, for his combination of academic and athletic success that season.[12] He continued to train through the pandemic, despite Olympic Trials being postponed until the following year.

In 2021, Hedlin was named as one of 4 athletes to compete on behalf of Canada at Olympic Trials for the 10-km open water race.[13] Unfortunately, Hedlin was unable to finish the race due to medical issues and did not qualify for the team.[14] Hedlin continues to swim in anticipation for the 2021-2022 season.

Although Hedlin was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he lived in San Diego, California from the age of a few months until he graduated from La Jolla High School. At that time he returned to Canada to train in swimming and to attend the University of Victoria.[15] His older sister, Dr. Margot Hedlin, is a physician training at NYU Medicine, and his younger brother, Paul Hedlin, graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2020 with a degree in International Economics.

In the spring of 2019, Hedlin graduated from UVic with a bachelor's degree in computer science. Later that year in June, he proposed to his long-time girlfriend and fellow Vikes teammate, Taylor Snowden-Richardson. After their original wedding date in 2020 had to be postponed due to COVID-19, they married in April 2021.

Hedlin successfully defended his master's thesis in September 2021, and will be continuing his education by studying for a Ph.D.

• Eric Hedlin at Swimming Canada
• Eric Hedlin at World Aquatics
• Eric Hedlin at Team Canada