Day 3 of the 2012 Canada Cup continued in Montreal on Saturday, and the women of the Canadian Olympic Team and the men of Club Wolverine continued to throw up some impressive times.
In the men’s 50 fly, Milorad Cavic won in 23.84. That’s just off of his best time of the year. The swimmers from Ann Arbor actually took the top-5 spots in this race, but the most notable of the results was in 5th from Barry Murphy. He swam a 24.42, which breaks an Irisih National Record in the race. For Murphy, who is headed to the Olympics as a potential finalist in the men’s 100 breaststroke, breaking a 50 fly National Record shows that he’s in great shape headed toward the Games.
Duje Draganja, now training with Club Wolverine as well, took 3rd in 24.34. He was the silver medalist in the 50 free at the 2004 Olympics for Croatia.
Other winners for Club Wolverine include Bradley Ally in the men’s 400 IM in 4:21.50, though his 200 from Friday seems to be his stronger race thus far in his time with the Michigan training group.
The biggest winner for the Canadian men was Scott Dickens in the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.91. Surprisingly, the aforementioned Murphy was only a 1:03.11 in that 100 breaststroke for 2nd place. For Dickens, that’s a phenomenal in-season time, far better than he’s ever been pre-taper. For Murphy, however, that’s way off of where he should be; perhaps he was saving his energy to go after that 50 fly record (this race came about 25 minutes before the 50 fly final).
On the women’s side, Julia Wilkinson won the 100 back in 1:00.49. That’s an outstanding time for a swimmer who just broke a minute for the first time in her career at the recent Canadian Olympic Trials. She swam a very good back-half, splitting 29.59-30.90 en route to the win. She’s been at her best when she’s splitting well on the back-half of her races, so this swim is a very good indicator for her three weeks out.
And in the women’s 200 free, a pair broke the two minute barrier. Barbara Jardin won in 1:58.48 after taking the race out very well in 58.0. It’s beginning to sound a bit like a broken record for the Canadians at this meet, but that’s another in-season personal best for her. If they’ve saved enough to have a big taper at the Olympics, they could pull off some surprisingly-high finishes. The runner-up in the women’s 200 was Sam Cheverton in 1:59.32. The 23-year old, through 2010, had only broken two minutes once in her career. Now she’s done it an even 10-times in the last two years.
This Canadian women’s 800 free relay still would be a stretch to crack a very elite top-three, but with how well they’re swimming, it seems to be a favorite for 4th.
And finally, in the always-entertaining Canadian women’s 100 breaststroke, Martha McCabe won in 1:08.67. That’s a second great sprint race from her in this meet, even though her Olympic entry is in the 200 breast.
Jillian Tyler, who is swimming this race in London, took 2nd in 1:08.86, followed by Ashley McGregor in 1:10.01. The more concerning swim in this event was Tera van Beilen in 4th in 1:10.04. She’s usually much better than that, even in-season, as evidenced by her 1:09-low a month ago at the Mel Zajac meet. She’s the other entrant in this event, beside Tyler, for the Olympics.
I hope Tera isn’t injured.