After day one in Barcelona the Randy Bennett, Head of Coach of the Canadian World Championships feels that their contingent is off to “a very good start.”
That good start included three appearances in individual semi-final, one individual final performance and one relay final swim. Olympic silver medallist in the 1500 freestyle Ryan Cochrane qualified second going into the 400 freestyle final, an event he just qualifying for the final in at the Olympics, in a time of 3:45.74, less than a second away from his best time of 3:44.85.
In the final Cochrane placed fourth in a time of 3:45.02 two tenths of a second away from Kousuke Hagino of Japan who finished with the silver. Cochrane was not happy with his swim, but explained that the 800 freestyle is his focus at this competition, ““Coming fourth is disappointing,” Cochrane told Swimming Canada.
“I felt really good this morning and I guess the positive is to take that going forward. The 800 was definitely my focus this meet, so I’m going to keep that as a confidence booster for that race.”
Katerine Savard broke her own had a strong morning swim breaking her own Canadian record qualifying third in a time of 57.31, but could not match that time in the semi-final where she qualified for the final in sixth position recording a time of 58.00.
Finishing just ahead of her in the fifth position was teammate Noemie Thomas who finished in a time of 57.99, “I think it’s really encouraging for the both of us because we’re really within international times and we’ve been kind of progressing together at the same rate and doing well at the same swim meets. I think we’re able to push each other and just encourage each other along the way,” said the 17-year-old Thomas.
“I’m just going to go in there and have fun. It’s my first (senior) international final so my coach Tom (Johnson) said to just be in the moment and do what I think is going to make the difference from my semifinal to final so I can lift and improve the times.”
The women’s 4 x 100 freestyle relay qualified for the final in third place in a new Canadian record time of 3:38.03. With many relays not fielding their fastest four in the preliminaries it was going to be tough for the Canadian team to hold on to their medal position, which turned out to be the case.
The women improved on their time setting another national record in a time of 3:37.09, but finished fifth.
Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson finished 16th in the women’s 200 IM semi-final posting a time of 2:16.12.
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