HPC Ontario Team Breaks National Relay Record

A team comprised fully of coach Ben Titley’s High Performance Centre Ontario swimmers took a sizable chunk off the Canadian national record in the short course 4x100m freestyle relay Saturday morning.

At the Etobicoke Olympium on deck for the short course Age Group International,  Sandrine Mainville led off the team in 53.05 as the squad put together a time of 3:31.34.

That broke the previous relay record of 3:32.53 set by the Canadian team in Leeds back in 2009. Collectively they came within five seconds of the 3:26.53 world record set by the Netherlands in 2014.

The leadoff time for Mainville ranks her fifth in the world this season in the individual short course 100m freestyle.

Following Mainville into the water was 2015 Pan American Games gold medallist and World Championship finalist Chantal van Landeghem. Van Landeghem had the second fastest split of the crew, dropping below 53-seconds for a 52.61.

Former Ohio State Buckeye and 2015 Pan American Games gold medallist Michelle Williams entered the pool after van Landeghem, keeping them on pace for the record with a 53.23 split.

Anchoring the relay was 15-year-old Penny Oleksiak. The World Junior silver medallist in the 100m freestyle put up the fastest split in the race with a swift 52.45. That time converts to a 54.05 which almost directly mimics her flat-start 54.65 performance at the World Junior Championships given the relay start.

All four girls that train with Titley at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre and are hopefuls to make the 2016 Olympic team.