Canadian Trials – Day One Finals
- Live streaming can be found here.
- Live results can be found here
- Prelims each day begin at 10 am EST/7 am PST
- Finals each day begin at 6 pm EST/3 pm PST
- Heat Sheet – Finals Day One
The Canadian Pan American Games and World Championship trials started this morning in Toronto. The first day of the trials features the 50 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke, and the 200 breaststroke. There will also be the final heats of the men’s 800 freestyle and the women’s 1500 freestyle.
The biggest news from this morning was NCAA champion Kierra Smith‘s DQ being overturned. She was initially disqualified in prelims for lifting her elbows out of the water, but it was later overturned after her coach filed an official appeal. She is the top seed going into the women’s 200 breaststroke.
Men’s 800 Freestyle – FINALS
Kier Maitland ran away from the rest of the field to win the first event of the Canadian Trials, breaking 8 minutes for the first time in his career, finishing with a final time of 7:59.45. Denmark’s Anton Ipsen posted the second fastest time of the day during the morning heats with his time of 8:01.12. As an international swimmer, however, he is not able to swim during finals. Phillippe Guertin finished second officially with his third place time of 8:05.12.
Women’s 50 Butterfly – FINALS
Sam Corea is having the season of a lifetime after dropping a lot of time at the NCAA Championships, picking up NCAA All-American honors, despite her Canadian nationality. She reached in to win her first National title with her time of 26.29. Noemie Thomas finished just behind her at 26.32, and Paige Kremer was third with her time of 26.92.
Men’s 50 Butterfly – FINALS
In the first meet after officially declaring he would be athletically representing Canada, Santo Condorelli picked up his first national title with a 50 butterfly time of 23.80. He finished nearly a second ahead of the second place finisher, Gamal Assaad, with his time of 24.60. Ben Berg added a third place finish with a 24.73.
Women’s 200 Freestyle – FINALS
Emily Overhalt cut nearly a second off her morning swim to earn a gold medal in the 200 freestyle. She finished first with a final time of 1:58.69. Butterflier Katerine Savard finished just behind Overhalt for the silver medal with her time of 1:58.84. Kennedy Goss reached in for third place with her time of 1:59.01. The only other swimmer under 2 minutes in the final was Alyson Acman with her time of 1:59.05.
Men’s 200 Freestyle – FINALS
Jeremy Bagshaw destroyed the rest of the A final to win the men’s 200 meter freestyle with the fourth fastest time in the world this year of 1:47.48.
2014-2015 LCM Men 200 Free
GUY
1.45.14
| 2 | Sun YANG | CHN | 1.45.20 | 08/04 |
| 3 | Ryan LOCHTE | USA | 1.45.36 | 08/03 |
| 4 | Paul BIEDERMANN | GER | 1.45.38 | 08/04 |
| 5 | Kousuke HAGINO | JPN | 1.45.82 | 04/09 |
Alec Page and Stefan Milosevic were the only other swimmers under 1:50 in second and third, respectively. Page finished second with his time of 1:49.20 and Milosevic earned the bronze with a 1:49.70.
Women’s 100 Backstroke – FINALS
Domonique Bouchard won the women’s 100 backstroke, tying Natalie Coughlin for the fifth fastest time in the country this year with her time of 1:00.20. Hilary Caldwell finished second with the ninth fastest time in the world this year of 1:00.54. Kylie Masse also added her name to the top 15 fastest 100 backstrokes in the world this year with her third place time of 1:00.73.
2014-2015 LCM Women 100 Back
SEEBOHM
58.26
| 2 | Madison WILSON | AUS | 58.75 | 08/04 |
| 3 | Katinka HOSSZU | HUN | 58.78 | 08/03 |
| 4 | Mie NIELSEN | DEN | 58.84 | 08/03 |
| 5 | Yuanhui FU | CHN | 59.02 | 08/04 |
| 6 | Natalie COUGHLIN | USA | 59.05*relay | 07/18 |
Men’s 100 Backstroke – FINALS
Russell Wood posted a best time is now the third fastest performer in Canada Swimming history, winning the men’s 100 backstroke with a time of 53.96. That time will tie as the eighth fastest swim in the world this year.
Marcus Thormeyer finished second with a 55.37 and Jeffrey Swanston was third at 55.68.
Women’s 200 Breaststroke – FINALS
Despite touching the wall before the rest of the field, Kierra Smith was disqualified during her final swim. Smith was initially disqualified this morning for taking her elbows out of the water during her stroke. After an official appeal, however, the call was overturned and she was allowed to swim again during finals. It is unclear at this point why Smith was disqualified during her final swim.
The awards ceremony for the 200 breaststroke is being delayed because an official protest was filed on Kierra Smith’s behalf. If the disqualification is overturned again tonight, she will be the national champion with a 2:24.24.
Martha McCabe won the women’s 200 breaststroke with her time of 2:24.53. That time will stand as sixth fastest time in the world this year, not including Smith’s time. Tera Van Beilen finished second with a 2:27.76.
2014-2015 LCM Women 200 Breast
ZEYNEP
2.19.64*WJR
| 2 | Kanako WATANABE | JPN | 2.20.90 | 04/12 |
| 3 | Rikke MOLLER PEDERSEN | DEN | 2.21.58 | 06/10 |
| 4 | Rie KANETOU | JPN | 2.21.90 | 04/12 |
| 5 | Micah LAWRENCE | USA | 2.22.04 | 08/06 |
| 6 | Jinglin SHI | CHN | 2.22.08 | 04/14 |
**UPDATE: The awards ceremony for the women’s 200 breaststroke will be tomorrow. The officials need more time to deal with the protest.
Men’s 200 Breaststroke – FINALS
James Dergousoff won the men’s 200 breaststroke with his time of 2:13.11, finishing just ahead of Richard Funk in second with a 2:13.13. James Guest picked up a third place finish with his time of 2:14.11.
Women’s 1500 Freestyle – FINALS
Tessa Cieplucha won the women’s 1500 freestyle with her time of 16:47.84. That is a six and a half second drop from her previous best time. Sophia Saroukian was second with her time of 16:53.91, and Jersey Bishop finished third with her time of 16:58.38.
For those confused about the qualifications for Worlds, just wait until the end of the meet to see who makes the team. That being said, those who are under the FINA ‘A’ standard are probably safe for worlds.
Yes this event is a pleasure to watch, but I am very confused about the selection criteria. It isn’t as exciting to watch someone win at a selection meet and be unsure if they are actually going to the big meet.
On a side note: I am also perplexed by the Kierra Smith DQ story. The female commentator mentioned that the rules are grey in Breaststroke and “that gamesmanship can definitely come into play.” Could someone tell me what she is alluding to?
The Fina breaststroke rules are not gray, “elbows shall be under the surface of the water”. The NCAA officials don’t call anything, and it is a shame for Smith that she is accustomed to swimming that way. However, other swimmers are swimming legal breaststroke and should be recognized for their achievements. Congratulations Martha, good luck at Worlds!
It gets hard to tell when you are churning the water so much
I’m also a bit confused. Emily Overholt, the winner of the 200 free, was congratulated for making the Pan-Am team at the end of her race, but wouldn’t she be on the 4×200 free relay at Worlds? Or would she swim the individual event at one meet and the relay at the other. Oh, my head hurts with these selection criteria.
Selection is essentially controlled by the High Performance Director. Give this a read: http://matthewswanston25.com/2015/01/15/a-warning-for-canadian-swimmers/
It uses last year’s results as an example but the article might help clear up confusions (or not).
The judge of strokes and turns says “I saw “this” @ the 75m mark”, writes up the DQ and gets questioned about it. It’s time they allowed video review of swim races – only then can they be truly objectively ruled upon. Video would allow that portion of the race to be reviewed. My $0.02 CDN.
Too bad our live stream can’t be this good in the U.S.
Their livestream is excellent
I agree, Manyi! That was the clearest, most continuous livestream I’ve ever watched! Beautiful facility too!
I feel sorry for Kierra, but she really does push the breaststroke elbows rule, especially when she’s fatigued and sprinting at the end of her races.
I do wish the qualification process was easier to understand for Canada. They’ve had some good performances, but it’s not clear if the winners will go to Kazan or Pan Ams, etc. For example, why isn’t the Women’s 1500 a selection event?
The men’s 800 freestyle and the women’s 1500 freestyle are non-Olympic events.
Tony, thank you for your reply! Of course I know that, and at the US WC Trials only the US Champ makes the team because the US needs to keep their total team members under a certain number, and non-Olympic events aren’t the priority; however, in Canada shouldn’t the focus be on putting together the most competitive team? For the sake of argument, if Canada had a phenom in the Women’s 1500, wouldn’t it be better for her to make the team than (and this is just a random example) a Women’s 200 IM athlete who might not make it to WC Consol’s?
I think their rationale is that they’re always focused on the Olympics, even in non-Olympic years. A woman who’d be a finalist in the 50 fly or 1500 free at worlds is less valuable than one who would make consolation finals in the 100 fly or 800 free, for instance. As you seem to imply, maybe that ***shouldn’t*** be the priority, but I’m pretty sure it is.
Thanks, Catherine! I guess the way I look at it, the reason it’s important to HAVE a 50 fly or 1500 (for women) at Worlds is that, because they’re not Olympic events, they might be just a little less competitive, and athletes from less dominant swimming nations might get the chance to swim in a major championship final! That experience, and international success might be just the encouragement/motivation they need to break into the top ranks of an Olympic event.
“I do wish the qualification process was easier to understand for Canada.”
Amen to that! Us too! Makes you feel nostalgic for the days when winning a race actually meant something. It was an objective you win or you lose. Now you can win but lose, or lose but win. Take your pick.
Nice to hear Callum Ng http://swimswam.com/bio/callum-ng/ making the call
any news on Texas’ LC time trials today?
Thanks