Alberta
Backstroke Flags in Alberta
In short
Swim Alberta governs club competition in the province and School Sport Alberta governs the school system. Alberta's major facilities are reconfigurable — Edmonton's Kinsmen Sports Centre runs either 10 lanes at 50 metres or 20 lanes at 25 metres — and that choice changes where a backstroke flag line has to sit.
- Swim Alberta
- Provincial governing body
- 10 or 20
- Lanes at Kinsmen, by configuration
- 2
- 50 m pools at MNP Centre, Calgary
SourcesSwimming Canada, Provincial PartnersSwimming Canada, Facility Rules & Guidelines
Who governs swimming in Alberta
Swim Alberta, headquartered in Edmonton, carries Swimming Canada's mandate in the province. School competition runs through School Sport Alberta, formerly and still widely known as the Alberta Schools' Athletic Association, which oversees amateur athletics in the province's schools.
Reconfigurable pools change the flag line
Edmonton's Kinsmen Sports Centre runs a 50 metre competition pool that configures either as 10 lanes across 50 metres or as 20 lanes across 25 metres, at a depth of 2 to 2.3 metres. It also holds a separate 50 metre training pool that configures as 6 lanes at 50 metres or 12 at 25 metres.
In Calgary, the MNP Community & Sport Centre — known as the Repsol Sport Centre until that naming agreement expired in spring 2022 — holds two eight-lane 50 metre pools alongside an Olympic-calibre dive tank. A facility running two long-course tanks is running at least four flag lines.
Common questions
- Do you ship backstroke flags to Alberta?
- Yes. Flags are built in Port Coquitlam, BC and supplied to teams across Canada, Alberta included.
- Does a pool that converts between long course and short course need extra flag lines?
- Often yes. The flags must sit 5.0 metres from the wall or bulkhead the swimmers are actually turning at, so a facility that reconfigures may need lines for more than one racing configuration.