Katrina Bellio Wins Third Gold Medal On Final Night Of Canadian Championships

2019 CANADIAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• July 8-11, 2019
• Pan Am Pool, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results
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Etobicoke’s Katrina Bellio won her third individual gold medal of the 2019 Canadian Championships on the final night of action in Winnipeg, topping the women’s 1500 freestyle field in a time of 16:43.66.

The time marked a new personal best for the 15-year-old, improving on her 16:48.34 from the World Championship Trials in April.

Bellio also won the 800 free and 400 IM earlier in the competition and added minor medals in the 200 free (bronze) and 400 free (silver).

The University of Calgary Swim Club’s Marit Anderson, who won the 400, was the runner-up in 16:57.44, and Mabel Zavaros of Oakville picked up bronze in 17:07.06.

Zavaros, a rising sophomore at Florida, won her first gold medal of the meet earlier in the session in the women’s 200 fly in a time of 2:13.14. Her 2:12.31 from the prelims was a new season-best.

Hannah Genich of Toronto, who won the 100 fly, almost ran her down on the last 50, touching second in 2:13.48. That fell less than a tenth off her personal best (2:13.39). 12-year-old Summer McIntosh finished fourth in 2:16.39, just over a second off her 11-12 NAG of 2:15.15.

Other notable names picking up wins on the final day were Eric Hedlin, Rachel Nicol and Ruslan Gaziev.

Hedlin won the men’s 1500 on the opening night, and followed up with a win in the 800 tonight in 8:08.84 over Raben Dommann (8:10.31) of Chena and Alexander Axon (8:10.90) of Manta. Axon’s swim was a lifetime best by over five seconds (8:16.04).

Hedlin was coming off a bronze medal win in the open water 5k at the World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea last month.

Nicol, a 2016 Olympic finalist in the 100 breaststroke, won that event tonight in a time of 1:08.37 over 2019 World Championship team member Kelsey Wog (1:09.50) and Sofia Carnevale (1:09.62). Carnevale, who swims for Etobicoke, broke 1:10 for the first time.

Gaziev won the men’s 100 freestyle in dominant fashion, out-splitting the field on both 50s (24.00/25.75) for a time of 49.75. He was slightly faster (49.59) in the prelims, which fell 0.03 shy of his best time from last summer.

Noah Cumby (50.70) of the St. John’s Legends and Philippe Marcoux (50.71) of Laval both set best times in second and third.

OTHER EVENTS

• Brooklyn Douthwright prevailed in a very tight race in the women’s 100 free, as the 16-year-old moved up from seventh at the 50 to win with a back half of 28.65. She clocked 56.12, just off her best of 56.10, and was followed by Ainsley McMurray (56.22) and Emma O’Croinin (56.35). Seven of the eight finalists were in the 56s.
• Ray Yang of Etobicoke set a new lifetime best to win the men’s 200 fly in 2:01.05, holding off Ramac’s Michael Sava (2:01.24) who made up more than a second on the last 50 with a 31.02 split. He also set a personal best time by over eight-tenths.
• 16-year-old Brendan Fitzpatrick of Pacific Coast picked up his first individual gold of the meet in the men’s 100 breast, dipping below the 1:03-barrier for the first time in 1:02.54. Jaren LeFranc of Kisu was the runner-up in 1:03.10, while Eli Wall scratched out after qualifying second in the heats.
• Pointe-Claire won the women’s 400 medley relay decisively in 4:13.00, with the top splits in the field on back, breast and fly. Neptune Natation had their ‘B’ and ‘A’ squads win silver and bronze respectively.
• Pacific Coast Swimming won the men’s race in 3:46.04, with Fitzpatrick throwing down a 1:01.82 breaststroke leg. Despite scratching the individual race, Wall did swim this relay for Toronto, out-splitting Fitzpatrick in 1:01.72 as they edged out CAMO for silver – 3:48.70 to 3:48.94.