Olympian Savannah King is heading for Prince George Aquatic Centre waters.
King, who swam for Canada at the recent London Games, will be in town Oct. 13-14. While here, she'll share her knowledge and stories at a Swim B.C. regional training camp for athletes aged 12-and-under.
King attends the University of British Columbia in Vancouver but her parents, Renata and Richard, are P.G. residents.
King, 20, will practice with members of the Prince George Barracudas in the early morning hours of the 13th and will then turn her attention to the training camp. The instructional sessions will resume on the 14th and will go until 4 p.m.
Many of the kids at the camp will be Barracudas swimmers. Jerzy Partyka, the club's head coach, is pleased that they'll benefit from King's presence and expertise.
"I think it's a great opportunity to see the potential they have and how far they can go," Partyka said. "And I'm not [instructing at] this training camp. The coaches from Swim B.C. are coming so the kids will have lots of different opportunities to see the future for themselves."
Vince Mikuska and Mike Clegel are the Swim B.C. coaches who will work alongside King.
At the Olympics, King competed in the 400-metre freestyle and 800m freestyle and finished 18th and 15th respectively. In the 800 free, she set a new personal-best time of eight minutes 29.72 seconds.
King, just 16 at the time, was also in the water at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
King will become the latest in a string of Team Canada swimmers to make an appearance in Prince George. Last year, three-time Olympian Joanne Malar (1992, 1996, 2000) was here. And, the year before, Lauren van Oosten -- who competed at the 2004 Olympics in Athens -- was in the city.
