Katerine Savard’s parents introduced her to swimming when they had her take lessons for safety purposes. Savard was not especially keen on swimming until she started competing at the age of 10.
Savard’s first three years of competitive swimming were with UNIK Pont-Rouge. At 13 years old she made a switch in teams and began training at CSQ. She now swims with CAMO and coach Claude St-Jean.
Savard made her first Canadian junior team in 2009 and her first senior team in 2010. Since that point she has been a fixture on the senior national team.
She was a member of the 2012 Olympic team and competed in the 100 and 200 butterfly as well as the 4 x100 medley relay.
Savard made get strides 2013 announcing her presence on the international stage by winning the 100 butterfly and collecting the silver in the 50 butterfly at the 2013 Universiade in Kazan. She followed that up with a fifth place finish in the 100 butterfly at the World Championships in Barcelona.
During the summer she also broke the Canadian records in the 50 and 100 butterfly multiple times.
2014- A Breakout Year
2014 was a year to remember for Savard. At the Canadian Swimming Trials in April she set new national records in the 50 and 100 butterfly and qualified for both the Commonwealth Games and the Pan Pacific Championships.
At the Commonwealth Games Savard earned a gold in 100 butterfly setting a new games record winning the event in a time of 57.40. She also took home a bronze in the 4 x 100 medley relay.
At the Pan Pacific Championships she collected a bronze as a member of the 4 x 100 medley relay.
2015 FINA World Championships
Before heading to Russia, Savard made a stop in Toronto in front of a home crowd at the Pan American games. She claimed the bronze in the 100 meter butterfly and finished 4th in the 200 meter freestyle.
In Kazan, Savard repeated her 5th place finish in the 100 meter butterfly from 2 years previous. She failed to move on from the heats in the 200 meter freestyle, finishing 26th almost two seconds slower than she swam at the Pan Am games. In the 50 meter butterfly she finished 29th.
Making her Second Olympics
Making the Rio Olympics was full of ups and downs. Her signature event was up first, the 100 meter butterfly. But Savard saw her national record fall as she touched third, missing the olympic selection in the event. Not letting disappointment get in the way, Savard picked herself up and proved her worth on the Canadian Olympic team. She took bronze in the 200 meter freestyle, guaranteeing her a relay position. Although she finished second in the 200 meter butterfly, her time of 2:10.82 was not enough to give her an individual swim at the games.
2022 World Championships
In Budapest, Savard swam on the prelims of the 400 free and 800 free relays, helping both advance to the final where they placed 2nd and 3rd, netting Savard a silver and bronze medal. Individually, Savard competed in the 100 fly, making the semi-final and placing 11th overall.
