World Champs Profile: Mary-Sophie Harvey Has Emerged as Medal Contender
Leading into the start of the World Championships later this month, Swimming World will publish a handful of short profiles on top contenders for the podium in Singapore. Our next entry in this series features Canadian Mary-Sophie Harvey, who will have the option to contest multiple individual events at Worlds.
Mary-Sophie Harvey
Canada
Events: 200 Freestyle/200 Breaststroke/200 IM/400 IM
The Road to Singapore
All eyes at the Canadian Trials were on Summer McIntosh, who set three world records during the meet. At the same time, Harvey packaged a dynamite meet, as she earned berths to the World Champs in the 200 freestyle, 200 breaststroke and both medley events. Whether Harvey pares down that program remains to be seen.
Harvey doesn’t get the recognition she deserves due to McIntosh’s presence, but she has continually improved over the years. In the world rankings, Harvey currently sits 20th in the 200 freestyle (1:56.46), sixth in the 200 breaststroke (2:23.40), fifth in the 200 IM (2:08.78) and sixth in the 400 IM (4:35.56).
Top Career Achievement
Harvey’s top performance of her career came from the short-course pool. At the 2024 World Short Course Championships, the Canadian was the silver medalist in the 200 freestyle, where she set a North American record of 1:51.49. In Budapest, Harvey was also the bronze medalist in the 400 freestyle.
Previous World Champs Hardware
Harvey owns a pair of relay medals from the long-course World Championships, a silver in the 800 freestyle relay from 2022 and a bronze in the 400 medley relay from 2023. In both instances, Harvey was a member of Canada’s prelims squad, but did not race during the championship final. This time around, look for Harvey to play a major role at night as Canada seeks podium finishes.
Stat Fact
When Harvey clocked a personal best of 2:08.78 in the 200 individual medley at the Canadian Trials for the World Championships, she moved among the top-25 performers in history. Harvey holds the No. 23 slot in the event and appears poised to climb higher at the World Champs.
World Champs Profiles
