Canadian Men & Women Both Crack National Records In 400 Free Relays

2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

While the Italian men and Australian women were busy breaking World Records in the 4x100m free relay events, the Canadian squads did damage in their own right.

Both the Canadian men and women fired off new national records in the relay event, with the former finishing 5th while the latter landed on the podium with bronze.

First, for the men, the combination of Ruslan Gaziev, Yuri Kisil, Javier Acevedo and Ilya Kharun collectively stopped the clock in a time of 3:07.10. Their effort was enough to shave .79 off of the longstanding Canadian standard of 3:07.89 the nation put on the books during the supersuit era of 2009.

Splits for the men’s squad here included Gaziev leading off in 47.08 with Kisil following through with a solid 46.41. Acevedo took over the 3rd leg in 46.18 before Kharun anchored in 47.43 after already having broken a World Junior Record in the 50m fly earlier on the day.

As fast as this relay was from a domestic perspective, the foursome was still well off the hardware race, with Italy’s World Record time checking in at 3:02.75. Australia earned silver in 3:04.63 while the United States stopped the clock in 3:05.09 for bronze. Brazil was also ahead of Canada in 4th with a mark of 3:06.85.

Taking home a medal, however, were the Canadian women as they scored bronze in their edition of the 400m free relay.

The squad of Rebecca Smith, Taylor Ruck, Maggie MacNeil and Katerine Savard made it happen in an outing of 3:28.06, placing 3rd.

Smith produced an opening 100m of 52.68 for a new personal best while Ruck threw down a massive 51.49 on the 2nd leg. MacNeil was in fine form with an even quicker 51.11 before Savard brought it home in 52.78.

All told, the foursome overwrote the previous national record relay mark of 3:28.53 posted at this same competition last year. In Abu Dhabi, Canada tied the United States for gold, with all but Ruck having represented the nation in that race.

The former 3:28.52 record saw the following lineup:

Kayla Sanchez – 51.73
Maggie MacNeil – 52.07
Rebecca Smith – 52.11
Katerine Savard – 52.61

Sanchez has since changed sporting nationalities to now represent the Philippines.

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WhenVictorDavisWasKing
1 year ago

Great swim for Katerine Savard, star of “Nadia, Butterfly

canuckSwimFan
1 year ago

Looks like MacNeil had the 3rd fastest split (51.11) and Ruck the 5th fastest overall (51.49) .

Bob
1 year ago

Pretty good even with notable absences….,Liendo,Oleksiak,Macintosh.Canadian men making a modest comeback with 3 or 4 more good young swimmers in the pipeline.

BigBoiJohnson
Reply to  Bob
1 year ago

This was the biggest surprise to me. Like in a sense, these are almost “B” teams, which is insane

Bo Swims
1 year ago

Alberta Sr Record & Club 🦖Record for Smith. #dinonation

About Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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