Summer McIntosh Crushes Age Record in Toronto Time Trial; Sanchez PBs 100 Free

Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre – High Performance Time Trial

• May 7-8, 2021
• Toronto Pan American Sports Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Long Course Meters (50 meters)
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results (page currently not working)
• Results also on Meet Mobile: “MAY TPASC HP Time Trial”

A compact, but power-packed, time trial that includes most of the top Ontario-based swimmers kicked off on Friday at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre Pool.

After the opening Para-race in the women’s 100 free, the first Olympic prep event is one of the highlights of the weekend, also in the women’s 100 free.

There, Kayla Sanchez swam a new lifetime best of 53.57 (.04 drop) to win the race and beat the defending Olympic co-champion Penny Oleksiak, who finished 2nd in 53.89.

Butterfly World Champion Maggie MacNeil placed 4th in a new best time of 54.27 (.24 drop) and Rebecca Smith placed 4th in a new lifetime best of 54.44 (.10 drop).

Taylor Ruck, who had the fastest split of Canada’s bronze-medal winning relay at the 2019 World Championships, placed 5th in 54.72.

This group included Canada’s entire free relay from those World Championships, so the flat-start best times from three of those five swimmers (including the prelims-only Smith) is a positive sign for the country’s medal chances in Tokyo as they try to both fend off the Chinese and the Dutch as well as chase down the Americans.

The very next race was a solo effort from E-Swim 14-year old Summer McIntosh, but the lack of competition didn’t mean a lack of prestige. She swam 16:15.19 in the race, which crushes a Canadian Age Record that has stood for 15 years. The old mark was a 16:34.27 that was set by Savanna King in 2006. McIntosh’s best time coming into the meet was a 16:34.85

That swim for McIntosh makes her the third-fastest Canadian in the history of the event and gives her a FINA Olympic “A” qualifying time by a wide margin. With no other Canadian women close to that fast in the 1500 free right now, McIntosh should be able to cruise to a spot on the roster for Tokyo in June if the rescheduled Olympic Trials happen. If not, she’s given Swimming Canada good evidence to select her for a ‘paper team.’

Brittany MacLean, the Canadian Record holder in this event, and Olivia Anderson, the 4th-fastest Canadian ever, also represented E-Swim domestically.

All-Time Top 5, Canadian Women’s 1500 Free, All Ages:

1. Brittany MacLean, 2014 – 15:57.15
2. Brittany Reimer, 2005 – 16:07.73
3. Summer McIntosh, 2021 – 16:15.19
4. Olivia Anderson, 2016 – 16:18.66
5. MacKenzie Padington, 2019 – 16:23.66

The other big race of the day came in the women’s 100 backstroke, where 5 swimmers who could all be Olympians this summer squared off.

Kylie Masse, a former World Record holder and the defending World Champion in the event, won in 58.48, which ranks her 3rd in the world this season.

Masse will face unrelenting challenges to retain that crown and win Olympic gold this summer from the likes of Americans Regan Smith (the World Record holder), Kathleen Baker, and Phoebe Bacon, plus Commonwealth rivals Kaylee McKeown and Kathleen Dawson, but a 58.4 shows that she’s not going to hand off the title easily, even to younger competitors. Even at 25, she’s already a ‘veteran’ relative to the global youth movement in the event.

The runner-up was MacNeil in 59.45, which is the first time she’s been under 1 minute in this event. Her previous best time was a 1:02.04 from the 2018 Canadian Championships. MacNeil, who trains in the U.S. at the University of Michigan, has shown some sprint backstroke abilities as a relay swimmer for the Wolverines, but hasn’t gone after the event much in long course in recent years as her butterfly and free have bloomed into world-leader type efforts.

That swim now makes MacNeil the third-fastest Canadian ever in the event.

Fastest Canadians All-Time, Women’s 100 LCM Backstroke

1. Kylie Masse, 2017 – 58.10
2. Taylor Ruck, 2019 – 58.55
3. Maggie MacNeil, 2021 – 59.45
4. Jade Hannah, 2017 – 59.62
5. Sinead Russell, 2011 – 59.68

The swimmers on either side of MacNeil in that ranking also raced the 100 back on Friday. Ruck placed 3rd in 1:00.19, while Hannah was 5th in 1:01.93. Sanchez, who won the 100 free, missed her best time in the 100 back and placed 4th in 1:00.55.

Other Day 1 Highlights

• 20-year old Finlay Knox, a Canadian IM Record holder, swam 1:03.29 in the 100 breast and 49.28 in the 100 free. Those are lifetime bests by .56 and 1.71 seconds, respectively. While neither is an event he’s likely to swim individually in Tokyo, both are a good sign for his overall development ahead of the 200 IM that he’s entered in for Saturday. The breaststroke is traditionally the weakest leg of his IM.
• The 100 free also gives Knox at least consideration for a Canadian 400 free relay. Josh Liendo won that race in 49.15, a best time by .02, and Ruslan Gaziev swam a best time of 49.33, by a quarter of a second.
• 2019 World Championship bronze medalist in the 200 IM Sydney Pickrem swam, and won, that event on Friday in 2:10.29. That’s the second-best time of her career outside of an international championship or national selection meet. Tess Cieplucha finished 2nd in a best time of 2:13.16.
• Mabel Zavaros swam 2:12.61 in the women’s 200 fly. She’s been 2:08 in the event, and was 2:10 in March of 2020, just before coronavirus shutdowns set in.
• Mack Darragh, a 2016 Olympian, swam 1:58.69 in the 200 fly – about 2 seconds slower than his 2019 best.