Brittany MacLean quieted all doubters last night with a huge 4:03.84 performance in the 400m freestyle to smash her own Canadian record by 1.22 seconds and punch in her ticket for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
MacLean clocked in over six-second faster than second place finisher Taylor Ruck who earned the silver medal behind MacLean in 4:09.93.
Her win makes her the first Canadian to be nominated for the Olympic team and sets her up perfectly as one of Canada’s front-runners to win a medal in Rio. MacLean’s time of 4:03.84 ranks her second in the world this season behind only world record holder Katie Ledecky of the United States.
The time marks the fastest she’s been since her seventh place finish at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Since then MacLean’s shown plenty of growth both in the NCAA swimming for Georgia and in overcoming an injury that kept her out of the World Championships last summer.
MacLean will also be competing in the women’s 200m freestyle this Thursday and the 800m freestyle Saturday, hoping to add to her event repertoire for the Games this summer.
The 800 is arguably MacLean’s best event and where she’s had the most international success in recent years. To break her Canadian record in that event MacLean will need to go under the 8:20.02 time she swam at the 2014 Pan Pacific Games.
