Block, Darragh added to Canada’s Olympic swim team for medley relay

OTTAWA – Canada’s Olympic swim team increased its male contingent with the confirmation a relay team has qualified for the Summer Games.

Calgary’s Jason Block and MacKenzie Darragh of Oakville, Ont., have been added to the squad for the men’s medley relay, which brings the number of Canadian swimmers heading to Rio to 10 men and 19 women.

Swimming Canada announced their inclusion Monday in a statement posted on its website.

The top 12 countries in the men’s medley relay at last year’s world championship booked their berths to Rio.

Canada, South Africa, Hungary and Greece round out the field of 16 based on times recorded between March 1 and May 31.

Block joined Toronto’s Javier Acevedo, Santo Condorelli of Kenora, Ont., and Calgary’s Yuri Kisil, who all punched their tickets to Rio in individual events, in posting a time of three minutes 34.55 seconds at Canadian trials in April.

Block, 25, and Darragh, 22, won the 100-metre breaststroke and butterfly respectively at trials, but missed Canada’s qualifying times to swim those distances in Rio.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version stated there were 17 women on the Canadian team.