Baumann swimming during a race

Ashton Baumann

Biography

Often told he looks like his double Olympic gold medallist father, Ashton Baumann is set to become an Olympian himself after winning his specialty, the 200m breaststroke, at the 2016 Canadian Trials and cutting his personal best time by almost three seconds. The younger Baumann made his international debut at the 2011 Pan Am Games in Guadalajara where he made the final of the 200m breaststroke. Two years later he made his FINA World Championship debut in Barcelona. But injuries began to take their toll on his progress. In 2013 he suffered two stress fractures in his ribs, including one before the world championships, as well as a stress fracture in his pubic bone while at the worlds, all from training. Out of the water for six months, he missed the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships in 2014. In early 2015 he suffered another injury, torn cartilage and a bruised bone in his left elbow, which kept him out of the Pan Am Games. Having considered “throwing in the towel” during those two years, he was only able to truly dedicate himself fully to swimming in the eight months leading up to the 2016 Trials. Despite living halfway across the world, Baumann and younger sister Tabitha are both proud to compete wearing the maple leaf because if it wasn’t for Canada, they wouldn’t be swimmers.

Getting to Know… 

Family: Father Alex Baumann won gold medals in the 200m IM and 400m IM at Los Angeles 1984 and is now the Chief Executive of High Performance Sport New Zealand… Mother Tracy Baumann… Younger sister Tabitha represented Canada at the 2015 Pan Am Games… The family moved to Ottawa when he was 14 when his father was hired to lead Road to Excellence (then the summer version of Own the Podium)… Getting into the Sport: Started swimming in 2007 after moving to Ottawa just to be active… Had never been keen on it before but took it up seriously at age 15… Outside Interests: Attended the University of Alberta…

Olympic Highlights

Games Sport Event Finish
2016 RioAquatics - Swimming 200m Breaststroke24

Notable International Results

Olympic Games: 2016 - 24th (200m breaststroke)

Pan American Games: 2011 – 7th (200m breaststroke)

FINA World Championships: 2013 – 24th (200m breaststroke)