By Paul Osborne

Four cities will battle it out to host the Swimming Canada 2016 Olympic trialsOctober 21 - Four cities have been selected as finalist to host Swimming Canada's 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Swimming Trials, it was announced today.


Quebec City, Montreal, Edmonton and Toronto have all put forward bids to host the six-day event, due to be held from April 2 until 7 2016, which will decide who swims for Canada in the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

"We have four strong contenders to host this marquee event, and that bodes well for swimming in Canada," said Swimming Canada chief executive Ahmed El-Awadi.

"We are talking about four great cities with four excellent venues.

"A great deal of work went in to each bid and we appreciate these cities stepping up."

Quebec City is proposing to host the event at the Université Laval's recently completed Piscine PEPS.

Montreal has put forward Piscines du Parc Olympique, used in the 1976 Olympic Games and venue of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Swimming Trials.

Piscines du Parc Olympique, built for the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, is among the shortlisted cities to hold Canada's swimming trials for Rio 2016Piscines du Parc Olympique, built for the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, is among the shortlisted cities to hold Canada's swimming trials for Rio 2016

Edmonton would host the event at the Kinsmen Sports Centre, host for the 1978 Commonwealth Games, whilst Toronto's Pan Am and ParaPan Am Aquatics Centre, currently being built for those Games in 2015, would stage the event if they are chosen.

The winning bid is planned to be revealed by November 2015 after Swimming Canada's Internal Committee has reviewed each prospected bid.

The event in 2012 was thought to have brought an estimated $5 million (£3 million/€3.5 million) in economic impact to the city of Montreal and $8 million (£5 million/€5.5 million) to the province of Quebec.

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