Brittany MacLean scratched the 800m freestyle final on the last day of competition at the 2015 Canadian Trials, giving way her last chance to make the Pan Am team or World Championship roster.
MacLean went into the meet as the top seed in the 800m freestyle, entering with her 8:20.02 seed time from the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships where the took home the bronze. That time stands as the Canadian record.
Coming back from NCAAs where she and the rest of the Georgia Bulldogs put up a second place finish, MacLean planned to swim the 200, 400, and 800 freestyles at Canadian trials.
She indicated early on that she wasn’t going to compete at the World Championships this summer because of her injuries, and that she would be attempting to qualify for the Pan Am team.
MacLean’s decision came in the hope of promoting recovery heading towards the Rio Olympics. MacLean has been battling shoulder and hamstring issues all season long.
Today she tweeted:
“After an exhausting stretch the past few months, I’m done racing here in Toronto and have officially started my road to recovery #GoCanada”
Although MacLean cannot be named to the Pan Am team based on the priority one or the priority two standard, she could be named to the team based on priority three.
Priority three is an individual event nomination. MacLean would have had to submit a request for the nomination prior to trials. It’s unknown whether or not she submitted a request at the current time.
As listed in Swimming Canada’s selection criteria, “In the event that injury, illness, or unforeseen circumstances of a significant nature inhibit a Swimmer’s preparation for the Trials, or prohibit a Swimmer from competing at the Trials, a Swimmer may submit a written request for consideration of a performance where a position in an individual performance event remains open after the Trials. Any time for pool swims submitted in such a request must have been swum between March 1, 2014 and April 1, 2015 at a Swimming Canada sanctioned or FINA approved competition”
Brittany has indeed made the team for Pan Ams! http://olympic.ca/2015/04/04/swim-team-announced-for-toronto-2015-pan-american-games/
Good luck Brittany! Make a speedy recovery because your fans want to see you succeed in Rio! 🙂
Happy to see that Brittany seems to have coaching and team support on both sides of the border so that she can recover. It attests to the quality of her coaches, their ability to lead with a vision for the long term and their understanding of the injury/recovery/prevention process. In programs of lesser quality, things would likely be different. Bravo, Brittany, for listening to your body, and bravo to your coaches for listening to you and for supporting you when you really need it. Good luck. We’re all cheering for you.