Kelly Kryczka-Irwin

Biography

Canada’s Kelly Kryczka won a silver medal in the synchronized swimming duet with partner Sharon Hambrook at Los Angeles 1984, the first time the sport was on the Olympic programme. She also competed in the solo event and was eliminated in the opening round (despite earning the fourth best score in the figures) due to the ‘one athlete per nation permitted to advance rule’ (which was eventual silver medalist Carolyn Waldo who had the second best result, and Hambrook had the third).

Kryczka won two medals at the 1979 Pan American Games capturing gold in the duet with Helen Vanderburg and silver in the team event. When Vanderburg retired in 1979, Kryczka partnered with Hambrook in 1980 and together they defeated Penny and Vicky Vilagos at the 1980 and 1982 Canadian Championships. At the 1982 World Championships, Kryczka won gold medals in the duet (with Hambrook) and team events, and silver in the solo competition. 

Kryczka began synchronized swimming at the Calgary Glencoe Club at the age of nine, eventually moving to train with the Calgary Aquabelles under the direction of Debbie Muir. Following Los Angeles 1984, Kryczka retired from competitive sport but stayed involved coaching at the Calgary Aquabelles, and competing at the masters level where she won a world title. Married to Bill Irwin, Kryczka split her time between Denver and Calgary. The daughter of Alberta politician Karen Kryczka, and niece of Joe Kryczka, she was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1996.