Missy Franklin has been nothing but spectacular this weekend at the Mel Zajac International and she continued to impress by throwing down a 1:01.90 100m backstroke this morning. That time qualifies her as the first seed for tonights final just ahead of her Cal teammates Elizabeth Pelton and Rachel Bootsma. The three have truly been on top of their game this weekend and are the ones to beat going into the race tonight. Don’t count out the Canadian girls however who’ve thrown down some fairly fast times this year. Dominque Bouchard, Brooklynn Snodgrass, and Genevieve Cantin qualified fourth through sixth to get into tonights final. Look for the Canadians to try and edge out the Cal girls for a top three spot.
So far in the mens backstroke events it’s been all about Russell Wood. Wood won the 50 and the 200 and after this morning is currently heading into finals as the top seed in the 100. Wood swam a 56.36 this morning which was almost two seconds faster than second place qualifier Markus Thormeyer who touched in at 58.28. Coleman Allen who doesn’t usually focus on the backstroke will also be in this final after qualifying third in 58.57. Look for fifth seed Jeffrey Swanston to also be fast as he’s been competitive throughout all the backstroke events this meet.
Without much rest Franklin came back and took the top qualifying position in the 100m freestyle as well. Her time of 56.60 this morning was just three one-hundredths faster than Canadian Sandrine Mainville who touched the wall in 56.63. Look for last night’s 50m freestyle winner Victoria Poon from PPO and Michelle Williams from North York Aquatic Club to also make their marks on the race tonight as they both qualified third and fourth respectively.
In the mens 100m freestyle Stefan Milosevic took the top spot with a 51.95. He’s had a great meet, but has been unable to reach the top of the podium. If he wants to do so tonight he’s going to have to beat the likes of Andrew Poznikoff, Jeremy Bagshaw, Geoff Cheah, Yuri Kisil, Markus Thormeyer, Kyle Troskot, and Luke Peddie. This final features some of Canada’s fastest freestylers as well as some other talent.
Noemie Thomas grabbed the top seed in the 200m fly with a 2:12.46. Thomas has been on fire this competition picking up golds in the 50 and 100m flys. To complete the sweep tonight, Thomas will be up against a tough field which includes her two Canadian rivals: Audrey Lacroix and Katerine Savard as well as Cal’s Caitlin Leverenz. Thomas is more of a sprinter than a 200m fly swimmer, but has been putting in lots of effort in training to improve that 200.
Nicolas Dekker swam a 2:05.18 in the 200m fly this morning to grab the top seed over Cascade Swim Club’s Thomas Jobin. Also in the final will be two of Oakville’s stars: Mack Darragh and Evan White. There’s no clear favorite going into the final, but Darragh and White have been throwing down some pretty fast swims all weekend long.
For full meet results click here.
not really sure I would call Missy’s performances ‘nothing short of spectacular’!!! she went 2:00…..that is what….4 seconds behind Allison last week and Katie a month ago?!?!! nothing bad about her swims, but not spectacular. She has been 2:04 in back and she goes 2:09? and 4:14 is good for her but not spectacular for anyone.
are you her publicist? or just in love with her?
Last year this weekend-54.5/1:58.2 free , 100.0/208.2 back, 213.5 2im. So I would agree, spectacular probably isn’t the right adjective.