The final night of competition kicked off in Saskatoon tonight as the Canadian Nationals came to an end.
The night started with the women’s 800m freestyle. Samantha Harding who’s been stellar all week blasted the field with a 8:47.01 to take home a big win. Seventeen-year-old Danica Ludlow finished second in 8:52.43, behind her was fifteen-year-old Etobicoke swimmer Olivia Anderson in 8:52.43.
The women’s 200m fly followed and Noemie Thomas continued her absolute slaughter of fly at these championships. After missing out on the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pac team due to an ankle injury, Thomas showed that it didn’t phase her at all by taking home a butterfly sweep. Tonight she sealed the deal with a 2:12.02 in the 200m fly. She won the event with a huge lead beating second place finisher Haley Black by over three full seconds. Black finished in 2:15.44; Jacomie Strydom rounded out the top three with a 2:16.45.
Mack Darragh from Oakville took down Island Swimming’s Alec Page in the men’s 200m fly tonight. Darragh was ahead of Page at the 150m mark, but Page started to advance on Darragh. Darragh was able to hold him off and secure a win in 2:00.48 to Page’s 2:00.97. Third was Thomas Jobin in 2:02.24.
The women’s splash-and-dash gave Caroline Lapierre-Lemire another big win after winning the 100m freestyle on Thursday night. Tonight’s victory secured the sprint freestyle double win. Lapierre-Lemire just out-touched Arian Mainville to the wall 25.63 to 25.66. Not far behind was Hannah Riordan in 25.82.
In very similar fashion to what Lapierre-Lemire did, Chris Manning won a nail-biter of a 50m freestyle final. Maning just out-touched teammate Cameron Kidd 22.63 to 22.67. The two of them were well ahead of the rest of the field.
Erin Stamp from the UBC Dolphins won the women’s 200m IM tonight in 2:16.88, taking down breaststrokers Ashley McGregor and Rachel Nicol. The winning time for Stamp was a 2:16.88. McGregor who won the 200m breaststroke earlier in the meet was a 2:17.67, Nicol was a 2:18.10.
Alec Page won the men’s 200m IM tonight after a disappointing week left him off of the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pac roster due to a doping violation. Page won the race in 2:04.13 despite being behind second place finisher Hochan Ryu at the 150m mark by about half a second. Ryu finished back in 2:04.13. Matthew Myers from the Toronto Swim Club came third in 2:05.07.
The men’s 1500m freestyle went to Kier Maitland tonight in 15:26.00. In what was probably one of the most exciting 1500m free finals to watch, Maitland took down Island Swimming’s Eric Hedlin by only 0.08 seconds, a teeny-tiny margin in an event as long as a 1500. The two were neck-and-neck for most of the race, but when it came down to it Maitland was able to get his hand on the wall for the win.
That swim concluded the Canadian summer nationals. For full meet results click here.
That 1500 meter race must have been exciting to watch!
The last 500 meters were exciting.