Day 3 at the 2012 Canadian Olympic Swimming Trials should be a very good one. Not only are the first free relay spots being handed out, we’ll see the 100 breaststroke that stands as the race-of-the-meet.\
Women’s 100 Breast
In that 100 breast, the A-Final is amazingly stacked, and any of the 8 could come away with an Olympic spot.
The top seed went to Cascade’s Jillian Tyler (who trains in Minneapolis stateside) in 1:07.79, followed by Martha McCabe in 1:08.12. Those two were the favorites coming into the race and remain as such, but the Tera van Beilen can’t be counted out with a 1:08.15 (a lifetime best for her) just a day shy of her 19th birthday.
Pan Am’s bronze medalist Ashley McGregor, who is committed to swim for Texas A&M in the fall, is another just-turned-19-year old who swam a 1:08.76, and the National Record holder Annamay Pierse was 5th in 1:08.78.
Not much more separates down to Tianna Rissling (yet another 19-year old – 1993 was the year of the breaststroker in Canada) in 1:08.81, and Fiona Doyle in 7th in 1:08.98.
American Keri Hehn was 8th in prelims in 1:09.10, which is a great time for her and almost as fast as she was at last year’s US Nationals.
With both Doyle and Hehn as foreign swimmers though, theyslides to the B-Final and Erica Morningstar from the U of Calgary slides up into the A-Final (giving her club the only program with two in the A) along with Haylee Johnson.
The names in the B-Final are huge as well. Chelsey Salli, and Kierra Smith will both swim the consolation final, as will Mariya Chekanovych from Simon Fraser. If there is a race at this meet that compares to what you see at a US Trial, it’s this one.
Women’s 200 Free
In the women’s 200 free, there was a huge shock when Julia Wilkinson, already on the team in the 100 back, sat the race out. She was using this race just as sort of a back-up in case anything went wrong, but it’s hard to imagine that she would not be at least vying for a relay spot. The Wilkinson camp says that she will still expect to be on the 800 free relay at the Olympics, though that will be a coaching decision that will be made in London.
Meanwhile, the field is still loaded, with Barbara Jardin taking the top seed in the prelim in 1:59.22. Sam Cheverton was 2nd in 1:59.37, and Amanda Reason from Etobicoke was 3rd in 1:59.65. The Etobicoke swimmers are having a great meet; she was followed closely behind by 400 champ Brittany MacLean in 1:59.90. Brittany’s older sister Heather was just behind her in 2:00.85, followed by Lindsay Delmar (2:00.87) and Sinead Russell (2:01.27).
Men’s 200 Breaststroke
The men’s 200 breast should be an even better race than the 100 was, with the sprint-champ Scott Dickens taking the top seed in 2:13.66 and Mike Brown aking 2nd in 2:13.96. Both swimmers arte capable of getting under the 2:11.74 FINA automatic qualifying time, especially with Dickens swimming well, but Brown will do so more easily in the final. He’s the favorite.
Behind the two veterans is the young-future of Canadian breaststroking Richard Funk in 2:14.13, followed by Jason Block in 2:15.54.
Men’s 400 Free
And in the other men’s race of the day, we get our first glimpse of one of Canada’s superstar in an Olympic event – Ryan Cochrane out of Island Swimming. He took the top seed in the 400 free in an easy 3:50.73 that didn’t look like he expended too much effort aside from about 100 meters in the middle. If he wants to, he’ll go 3:48 tonight, though he doesn’t need to as his times from the World Championships should carry him to London (as he was top 5 in this event).
Kier Maitland was 2nd in 3:54.31, which is a best time for him; though he’ll have to go something unbelievable to get the 2nd spot behind Cochrane (drop about 6-seconds, to be precise). Mark Randall is the 3rd seed in 3:54.32, with Chad Bobrosky in 3:54.35. The 2nd-4th place swimmers in this race are separated by only .04 , which should make a great battle for the silver.
Alec Page, who already has a 400 IM title, went out very well in this prelim and then backed way off, and is the 5th seed in 3:55.44.
Full Meet Results available here. Finals begin at 7 PM Eastern Time, with all of the links you need at swimswam.ca.
The women’s 100 breast is going to be nothing short of amazing.