Richard Funk Set Up For Breaststroke Sweep At Quebec Canada Cup

This morning kicked off the final day of the Quebec Canada Cup in Montréal Que., featuring some of Canada’s fastest swimmers, and some great up-and-coming Canadian youth.

Chantal VanLandeghem took the top seed this morning in the women’s 50m freestyle. She already displayed her speed earlier in the meet after winning the 100m free on night two. Her time of 25.58 this morning was ahead of Canadian sprint specialist Victoria Poon who managed to get her hand on the wall in 25.89 to take the second seed, tying with North York Aquatic Club’s Michelle Williams.

Toronto Swim Club’s Oleksandr Loginov took the top seed in the men’s splash-and-dash with a swift 22.87. Loginov was the only swimmer to dip under 23 seconds this morning. Derek Toomy grabbed the second fastest qualifying position in 23.18, behind him was Zachary Hayden from Club Wolverine in 23.62.

No surprise that Martha McCabe took the top spot in the women’s 200m breaststroke heading into tonight’s final after she won last night’s 100m breaststroke in 1:10.28. The 2011 World Championship bronze medallist in this event posted a 2:36.87 this morning over a very young field. It should be her race tonight, but look for some of Canada’s young talent to try and stay with her.

Richard Funk’s looking for that breaststroke sweep after already winning the 50 and 100 earlier in the meet. It should be his race to lose tonight as he’s been able to hold off advances from tough competitors all weekend long. Funk swam a 2:20.98 this morning taking the top spot by a decent amount. The second seed in tonights final will be Cody Miller after swimming a 2:21.96 in this morning’s prelim session.

Sixteen-year-old backstroke specialist Danielle Hanus from the Newmarket Stingrays rocketed to a 29.20 in her 50m backstroke prelim to take the top spot by almost a full second. Hanus was the only swimmer under 30 seconds, and really separated herself from the rest of the field. Being the youngest swimmer in the final, Hanus should have her hands full however, her statement this morning with her 29.20 shows that she’s ready to challenge the older swimmers.

Katerine Savard and Audrey Lacroix will battle again in a fly event. The two will be facing off tonight in Savard’s specialty: the 100m fly. The two were miles ahead of the rest of the field this morning, Savard clocking in a 58.95 and Lacroix a 59.71. It’s going to be all about these two tonight, Savard with the definite advantage based on the way Lacroix’s been swimming she should be able to keep this interesting.

Oakville Aquatic Club’s Assad Gamal took the top seed in the mens 100m fly. Gamal swam a 55.36 to do so. The field doesn’t scream any name as the favourite; it’s clear that the race is fairly open tonight. Look for swimmers like Edward Liu and Geoffrey Cheah to challenege Gamal in tonight’s final.

In the women’s 1500m freestyle timed final this morning, 15-year-old Natalie Ward came home with the win in 17:17.45. In the mens 800m freestyle Newmarket Stingray Jake Silverthorn took home the win in 8:29.36.

Finals will be returning tonight at 5:00 Eastern time.

For full meet results click here.