Canadian breaststroker Kierra Smith’s DQ in the preliminary rounds of the women’s 200 meter breaststroke on the first day of the Canadian World Championship Trials has been overturned, reinstating one of the favorites to win the event for Wednesday night’s final.
She was initially disqualified when officials spotted her elbows exiting the water on her breaststroke recovery, which is against the rules (it helps solidify the difference between breaststroke and butterfly).
Smith’s DQ was overturned after her coach officially filed an appeal. Her touch time of 2:25.69 was reinstated, which makes her the top seed.
While the Canadian qualifying procedures are complex, and the full team won’t be known until it’s announced at the meet’s conclusion on Saturday, a 2:26.34 in finals and a top two finish would basically guarantee a spot on the World Championship team.
Smith’s original DQ was the biggest disappointment of the prelims session, as she was coming off of her first ever NCAA (American collegiate) title in the 200 yard breaststroke and hoped to translate that success to a spot on the World Championship Team. That opportunity has been restored, though this is still a loaded final with the likes of Martha McCabe (2:26.67) and Rachel Nicol (2:29.81) involved, plus a big group of swimmers like Tera van Beilen (2:30.07) and Ashley McGregor (2:30.72) who seemed to be conserving energy in prelims.
Smith’s reinstatement will bump Erin Stamp out of the final. She swam a 2:34.24 in prelims, which was a full two second slower than anybody else in the A-final.
If it’s too close to call and officials are having a hard time determining whether she should be disqualified or not, then they should err in favour of the swimmer. Unless they use video (and they cannot), I think the fact that they had such a touch time deciding whether to let the DQ stand (in finals) means that there is enough uncertainty that the DQ should be overturned.
When I was watching those breaststroke events at NCAA, I kept thinking that some of these swimmers would definitely be DQed in a FINA sanctioned meet.
As a former Gopher, I’m glad Kierra was reinstated. But I’m concerned because I’ve never heard of someone making this call. Seems to me an over-the-water elbow recovery could reduce drag and provide a small speed/efficiency advantage (true?). Got to watch this more closely going forward. Hope Kierra keeps it cleaner next NCAA season.
I watched women’s ncaas on tv yesterday, and slow motioned the 200 breast because it looked like her elbows were very close to getting out of the water. It looked extremely close, so I’m not surprised if she was DQed.
It looked like her elbows were above the surface of the water but the waves around her elbows make it tough to clearly see.
Perhaps she was DQ’ed for being the last person in all of swimming to do a two-foot-forward “grab start” . . . yes, that’s a joke. But seriously, has anyone seen one of those since the 90s?
Good to see Kierra reinstated, but it would be interesting to know how and on what grounds the appeal was successful, since her elbows were clearly out of the water on multiple occasions during that prelim swim.
Besides the two hand touch, it’s one of the easier breaststroke infractions to catch.
Regardless of what’s transpired, I think Kierra’s a talented swimmer and does deserve a spot on the Canadian team, should she make it tonight and/or tomorrow in the 100.
Just keep those elbows about an inch lower on the recovery….
Thank you Tony and Braden! Swimswam always provides the information its readers need! This site is the best! 🙂