By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
Erin Routliffe, sister of Canadian Paralympic swimmer Tess Routliffe gained a U.S. Open tennis title on Saturday in Flushing. She turns into the most recent Canadian swimming sibling to realize huge success in a unique sport.
Erin and Tess, two of three sisters, had been each born in New Zealand whereas their Canadian dad and mom had been on an around-the-world crusing journey. Whereas the swimmer Tess represents Canada internationally, tennis participant Erin represents New Zealand internationally.
Together with her Canadian accomplice Gabriel Dabrowski, Ern Routliffe gained the ladies’s doubles title on Saturday. That’s her second U.S. Open title in girls’s doubles in three years.
Whereas singles tennis is the premier occasion, a doubles title continues to be vital and comes with a $1 million (per workforce) prize.
Erin has been ranked as excessive as #1 on this planet in girls’s doubles, although coming into the U.S. Open she ranked #7 on this planet. She represented New Zealand in girls’s doubles on the Paris 2024 Olympic Video games as effectively.
Tess, in the meantime, is a two-time Paralympic swimmer who gained silver within the 200 IM (SM7) in 2016, silver within the 200 IM (SM7) in 2024, and bronze within the 100 breaststroke (SB7) in 2024. She can also be a three-time World Champion.
She missed the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Video games after breaking her backbone whereas weight coaching.
The opposite Routliffe sister, Tara, performed NCAA volleyball at College of the Cumberlands.
One thing within the Ice?
Whereas siblings who’ve each been profitable in swimming shouldn’t be that unusual, a core group of Canada’s greatest feminine swimmers all have siblings who’ve achieved world-class success in different sports activities.
That features 7-time Olympic medalist Penny Oleksiak, who’s the youngest of 5 siblings. Her brother Jamie Oleksiak is a defenseman who performs for the Seattle Kraken of the Nationwide Hockey League.
The Oleksiak household is famously athletic: her 6’8″ father Richard was a highschool corridor of famer in Buffalo and performed rugby and ran monitor at Colgate College. Her mom Alison was an elite swimmer and Scottish File holder. Her sister Hayley was a aggressive determine skater who went on to row at NCAA Division I Northeastern College, sister Claire is a aggressive skier, and brother Jake was recruited to play NCAA hockey at Clarkson College earlier than an damage.
The world’s greatest feminine swimmer Summer time McIntosh can also be Canadian and likewise comes from an achieved athletic household. Her older sister Brooke McIntosh is a Spanish champion determine skater, representing the nation since 2024 through her accomplice Marco Zandron. They gained the 2025 pairs title; she was beforehand the Canadian silver medalist in pairs and the 2022 World Junior Championship bronze medalist in the identical.
Brooke additionally competed on the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics.
Their mom Jill (Horstead) McIntosh was a 1984 Canadian Olympian in swimming.
There are another examples, like Taylor Ruck‘s twin brother Hunter Ruck, who performed NCAA Division I basketball; and Tokyo 2020 Olympian Cole Pratt‘s older sister Halle Pratt, who was a Tokyo 2020 Olympian in inventive swimming.
From tennis courts to hockey rinks, from determine skating rinks to volleyball courts, Canada’s high swimmers are a part of a broader internet of athletic households. Whether or not coincidence or tradition, their tales spotlight the deep sporting roots that proceed to form the nation’s Olympic and Paralympic future.
Learn the total story on SwimSwam: Erin Routliffe, Sister of Paralympic Medal Successful Swimmer, Wins U.S. Open Tennis Title
