Penny Oleksiak, at the Arena Pro Swim Series-Charlotte, broke the 50m Butterfly Junior World Record. Her time of 26.03 earned her a first -place seed going into finals tonight.
Oleksiak’s prelim swim this morning broke Rikako Ikee‘s previous record time of 26.17. Ikee broke Rozaliya Nasretdinova‘s previous record at the 2015 FINA World Cup in Tokyo, Japan. Last month, Ikee won the Japanese Olympic Trials in the 50 free.
Oleksiak’s swim this morning places her 10th in the world rankings this season, a huge jump for the previously-unranked swimmer in the non-Olympic event.
Oleksiak is the most decorated Canadian swimmer of April’s trials, winning both the 100 free and 100 fly. She not only qualified for the Canadian Olympic Team with her 100 fly swim, but also broke the Canadian record in a time of 56.99. She dropped over a second and a half to win the event at trials coming into the meet with a lifetime best of 58.44.
She is set to swim the 100 fly, 200 free, 100 free, 4×100 free relay, 4×200 free relay, and 4×100 medley relay in Rio this summer.
Oleksiak will also swim the 100 free and 100 fly at the Arena Grand Pro Series in Charlotte. She is top seed in the 100 free and second seed in the 100 fly behind Dana Vollmer.
