2016 CANADIAN OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC TRIALS
- April 5-10
- Prelims: 10 a.m EST
- Finals: 7 p.m EST
- Live Results
- Psych sheets
- Live stream
- Olympic Qualifying Times
- Selection Criteria
- World Rankings
We head into day three of the 2016 Canadian Olympic Trials with seven women qualified, but just one male thus far. We should be guaranteed at least one more male will make it tonight, as 2015 World Championship bronze medalist in the 400 freestyle Ryan Cochrane will contest that event today. Along with the men’s 400 free we have the women’s 200 free, women’s 100 breast, and the men’s 200 breast. The women’s 200 free will select the four who compete on the 4x200m free relay at the Olympics.
Women’s 200m Freestyle Prelims
- Taylor Ruck, 1:58.27
- Brittany Maclean, 1:58.48
- Jacqueline Keire, 1:59.24
- Penny Oleksiak, 1:59.63
- Kennedy Goss, 1:59.70
- Katerine Savard, 2:00.36
- Alyson Ackman, 2:00.43
- Rebecca Smith, 2:00.55
- Samantha Cheverton, 2:01.12
- Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson, 2:01.16
After a disappointing 100 back performance yesterday, 15 year-old Taylor Ruck put up the fastest time this morning in the 200 free prelims, posting 1:58.27. That swim is well under the Olympic qualifying standard of 1:58.96, and is just shy of her 1:57.87 personal best from the 2015 Junior World Championships where she won gold.
Four more women broke two minutes, with 400 free winner Brittany Maclean 2nd in 1:58.48, also under the qualifying standard. Jacqueline Keire was 3rd in 1:59.24, and Penny Oleksiak follows up her big win in the 100 fly on the opening night with a solid 1:59.63 to qualify 4th. Kennedy Goss (1:59.70) and Katerine Savard (2:00.36) also qualified for the final.
Surprisingly Emily Overholt, the 2015 trials champion in this event and silver medalist at the Pan Am Games, missed the final putting up the 13th fastest time by a Canadian in 2:01.89, well off her best of 1:57.55.
Men’s 400m Freestyle Prelims
- Ryan Cochrane, 3:50.61
- Jeremy Bagshaw, 3:50.96
- Peter Brothers, 3:53.54
- Colin Gilbert, 3:54.52
- Tristan Cote, 3:56.44
- Eric Hedlin, 3:56.47
- Mackenzie Hamill, 3:56.90
- Jon McKay, 3:57.22
- Keegan Zanatta, 3:57.93
- Carson Olafson, 3:58.61
As expected Ryan Cochrane took the top seed in the men’s 400 free prelims, clocking 3:50.61. He has stated he wants to be faster than he has been at previous trials meets (typically around 3:47), so he’ll shoot for 3:46 or better tonight. 200 freestyle runner-up Jeremy Bagshaw takes the 2nd seed heading into tonight with a time of 3:50.96. Bagshaw just missed qualifying in the 200 free by two tenths of a second and was a bit off his best time, so he’ll look to qualify tonight in the 400. His best time of 3:49.76 is under the qualifying standard of 3:50.40.
Peter Brothers, who represents Island Swimming like both Cochrane and Bagshaw do, is seeded 3rd for tonight after going 3:53.54 this morning. Brothers took over a second off his personal best, but will likely be racing for 3rd behind Cochrane and Bagshaw tonight. Last years 3rd place finisher at trials Keegan Zanatta qualifies 9th in 3:57.93. He’ll look to get back down to his personal best of 3:52.15.
There were plenty of international swimmers in this event, including New Zealand’s Matthew Hutchins who was the fastest out of anyone this morning in 3:49.84. That time should qualify Hutchins for the Olympics. His countryman Kevin Litherland was just off the qualifying standard in 3:51.01, as he’ll look to get it tonight. Also qualifying for the B-final was Nicholas Sweetser (3:52.13) and Connor Jaeger (3:53.16), both of the United States.
Women’s 100m Breaststroke Prelims
- Rachel Nicol, 1:06.88
- Kierra Smith, 1:07.44
- Tera Van Beilen, 1:08.38
- Kelsey Wog, 1:09.24
- Ashley McGregor, 1:09.78
- Erin Stamp, 1:09.81
- Tianna Rissling, 1:10.05
- Martha McCabe, 1:10.45
- Bronwyn Pasloski, 1:10.66
- Marie-Solei Jean-Lachapelle, 1:10.82
Top seed Rachel Nicol posted the top time of the prelims in 1:06.88, a new personal best. That times elevates her to 12th in the world for the 2015-16 season. Kierra Smith was 2nd in 1:07.44, also a new personal best. Both swimmers were under the Olympic qualifying standard of 1:07.85, as Canada will look to send two women in this event if they can do it again tonight. Tera Van Beilen was 3rd in 1:08.38, as the top-3 from the 2015 trials finished in the same order here this morning as they did in last years final. Van Beilen made the 2012 Olympic team in this event and will look to run down Nicol and/or Smith tonight and earn a spot. Kelsey Wog (1:09.24) and Ashley McGregor (1:09.78) qualified 4th and 5th as they also broke the 1:10 barrier, and 200 breast specialist Martha McCabe qualified 8th in 1:10.45.
Men’s 200m Breaststroke Prelims
- James Dergousoff, 2:13.26
- Jason Block, 2:13.54
- Richard Funk, 2:13.83
- Ashton Baumann, 2:14.71
- Ryan Telford, 2:15.59
- James Guest, 2:16.03
- Eli Wall, 2:16.32
- Dillon Perron, 2:16.68
- Nick Kostiuk, 2:16.81
- Connor Islings, 2:18.95
James Dergousoff took the top seed going into tonight in the men’s 200 breast, posting a time of 2:13.26. That time is only a tenth off his personal best of 2:13.11 which he set at the 2015 trials where he won gold. 100m winner Jason Block put up the 2nd fastest time of the morning, coming in at 2:13.54. Top seeded Richard Funk was 3rd in 2:13.83, and Ashton Baumann qualifies 4th for tonight in 2:14.71. The men have some work to do tonight as the qualifying time in this event is 2:11.66. Funk has the fastest best time of the group, as he posted a 2:11.51 at the Pan American Games last year en route to a silver medal.
Another male event heavy in international swimmers, the 200 breast saw a very fast swim this morning from American Josh Prenot. Prenot put up a personal best of 2:08.58, eclipsing his previous best mark of 2:08.90 from his gold medal winning swim at the 2015 World University Games. Prenot moves into 2nd in the world rankings with that swim, behind only Marco Koch of Germany.
2015-2016 LCM Men 200 BREAST
PRENOT
2.07.17
| 2 | Ippei WATANABE | JPN | 2.07.22*OR | 08/09 |
| 3 | Dmitriy BALANDIN | KAZ | 2.07.46 | 08/10 |
| 4 | Marco KOCH | GER | 2.07.69 | 01/30 |
| 5 | Anton CHUPKOV | RUS | 2.07.70 | 08/10 |
Time standard is exactly how selection should be made. Canada needs to step up there game and be competitive with the rest of the world which they have not been for a long time. Just because you win a final does not qualify the right to attend if the time standard has not been met.
I agree completely. The pool is gorgeous and the athletes are elite and charged to win Olympic medals. Toronto, go out and don’t sit on your hands. Support your Olympic team.
John Atkinson is a fancy girl and is the reason it changed.
I noticed the same thing with the atmosphere last night. I think part of it (leaving the $40 tickets for finals aside) has to do with the location of the pool. The olympic pool in Montreal is in such a central location that is easily accessible while the Pan Am pool in Toronto is in the middle of nowhere and isn’t accessible by any transit. Seems to be a lot of empty seats at the pool…
The other side of it which I think dramatically affects the atmosphere for those that are in the crowd is the selection criteria. When you have it as “winner automatically goes” you encourage better racing an more people cheering. When you have to… Read more »
Hey Captain Ontario, don’t knock the fans in Toronto. At the Pan Am Games last summer, during Emily Overholt’s 400 free “outside smoke” gold medal win, it was the loudest cheering I’ve ever heard at a sporting event! Plenty of spirit.
Meh. What have they done for me lately? I’ll give them credit for these trials when they show they care even a fraction of the amount Montreal did in 2012.
The Pan Ams had way more seating and more people from all over the country. Like Quebecois that actually appreciated it.
Political point-scoring on Swimswam…
Seen it all now.
Swimdad22, do you remember how much tickets were in Montreal? Ticket prices here feel like extortion by SNC from the base.
I have so many good things to say about these athletes but so few good things to say about SNC. The girls especially are killing it in spite of SNC, not because of them.
Maclean, Keire, Oleksiak, Goss are all in their home city. Come on Toronto, if you can’t come out and get loud for this you don’t deserve that pool. Or athletes of such quality.
These trials are lacking the excitement of 2012. The crowds are quiet. Maybe they don’t understand swimming like Montreal, maybe it’s the time standard? The racing is great, that place should be rocking at night!
Also, there is nowhere in the building that shows the swimmers names while the race is on. Maybe that’s okay when you have announcers on TV but it is not good in the building.
You’re correct about the crowd noise and I also agree about the lack of name availability. With 10 wide it can be difficult to follow everyone. The team selection was dramatically different in Montreal, which lead to greater excitement. The winners went and the time standard really only applied to the second place finishers. In Toronto there has been a obvious crowd let down with so few men making the team at this point and it’s heartbreaking when athletes that train for a quadrenial only to miss by a few one hundreths. Three Canadian records on the ladies side so far which has been great.
This old selection process that you describe makes a lot of sense to make (winner automatically goes, use the time standard for the second). In the various articles about the different trials, people have mentioned that a lot of countries don’t have the depth to auto-qualify two people like the US, and you want to encourage fast times. I can see that, but it seems like a loss when swimmers win a race and still don’t know if they will make the team. You lose the joy and it also undercuts the value of winning a race. It seems like there would naturally be more excitement in the building (for swimmers and fans) if there was a guaranteed team spot… Read more »
Completely agree. Those were the rules that were in effect for when I competed at trials and it makes sense that the winner should go (obviously all the winners would be under the FINA B so that isn’t a concern) and the top 2 make it if under the B standard. I also liked a past rule from 2008 that Canada used that if you went a FINA A standard in the prelims and then finished top 2 at night (but missed the A standard by hundredths let’s say), then that athlete still gets to qualify for the Olympics encouraging fast swimming in both sessions for athletes going for it in the morning. If they get 3rd or lower, then… Read more »
Edit above – *top 2 make it if under the A standard.