2023 Canadian Trials: Day 6 Prelims Live Recap

2023 CANADIAN SWIMMING TRIALS

• March 28 – April 2, 2023
• Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre – Toronto, Ontario
• TPASC
• Long Course Meters
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Stream
• Day 1 Prelims Live Recap | Day 1 Finals Live Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Live Recap | Day 3 Finals Live Recap
• Day 4 Prelims Live Recap | Day 4 Finals Live Recap
• Day 5 Prelims Live Recap | Day 5 Finals Live Recap

SUNDAY MORNING PRELIMS HEAT SHEET

The final day of the 2023 Canadian Swimming Trials is here. Sunday morning’s prelims session will feature heats of the 200 free and 50 fly. There will also be timed finals of the women’s 800 free and men’s 1500 free this morning, the slower heats of which will take place at the end of this prelims session. The fastest heat of the women’s 800 and men’s 1500 will be swum with finals tonight. The para 100 back will also take place this morning.

Once again, all eyes will be on 16-year-old Summer McIntosh today in the women’s 200 free. The Candian and World Junior Record holder in the event, McIntosh enters as the top seed with her record mark of 1:54.13, which is nearly four seconds faster than second-seeded Mary-Sophie Harvey (1:57.94). After breaking the World Record in the 400 free and 400 IM at this meet, and scaring the 200 IM WR, we’ll see tonight if the youngster can make a run at one of the longest-standing records on the books. Federica Pellegrini set her WR mark of 1:52.98 in 2009, and despite all the phenomenal 200 freestylers we’ve seen come up since then, none have been able to touch that record.

Finlay Knox enters as the top seed in the men’s 200 free, coming in with a 1:47.92. Importantly, the FINA ‘A’ cut stands at 1:47.06, so we’ll need to see at least one person drop from their seed in order to qualify for the World Championships team in the event.

There is no Maggie MacNeil in the women’s 50 fly today. In her absence, Katerine Savard leads the entries, coming in with a 26.14. She’s seeded first by a comfortable margin.

Josh Liendo is the top seed in the men’s 50 fly, coming in with a 23.42. He’s notably just off the Canadian Record of 23.30, which has stood since 2015, so keep an eye on that mark today as well.

PARA WOMEN’S 100 BACKSTROKE MULTI-CLASS

1. Shelby Newkirk – 1:23.32
2. Danielle Dorris – 1:23.66
3. Katie Cosgriffe – 1:11.10
4. Mary Jibb – 1:14.75
5. Emma Van Dyk – 1:12.69
6. Arianna Hunsicker – 1:16.87
7. Angela Marina – 1:16.13
8. Kylin Tan – 1:33.73
9. Justine Morrier – 1:18.07
10. Katarina Roxon – 1:23.66
11. Dee Kisser – 1:44.73

Shelby Kirk led the way in the women’s para 100 back this morning, clocking a 1:23.32. She was 2.56 seconds off her seed time, but still managed to come out on top by a decent margin.

PARA MEN’S 100 BACKSTROKE MULTI-CLASS

1. Tyson MacDonald – 1:04.41 (TIE)
2. Nicholas Bennett – 1:04.41 (TIE)
3. Alexander Elliot – 1:05.86
4. Reid Maxwell – 1:11.18
5. Zach Zona – 1:18.05
6. Connor Bissett – 1:12.53
7. Hunter Helberg – 1:17.13

Tyson MacDonald and Nicholas Bennett tied for first in the men’s para 100 back this morning. Both men clocked a 1:04.41, and as swimmers in the same classification, they scored the same number of points with the swims. Bennett was out faster than MaMacDonald, splitting 30.44 on the first 50 to MacDonald’s 31.45, but MacDonald came home faster.

WOMEN’S 200 FREESTYLE – HEATS

• World Record: 1:52.98, Federica Pellegrini (Italy) – 2009
• Canadian Record: 1:54.13, Summer McIntosh – 2023
• FINA ‘A’ Cut: 1:58.66

TOP 10 QUALIFIERS:

1. Summer McIntosh – 1:57.17
2. Ella Jansen – 1:58.52
3. Emma O’Croinin – 1:59.24
4. Katerine Savard – 1:59.44
5. Rebecca Smith – 1:59.53
6. Mary-Sophie Harvey – 1:59.55
7. Julie Brousseau – 2:00.44
8. Mia West – 2:01.08
9. Brooklyn Douthwright – 2:01.16
10. Megan Willar – 2:01.29

Summer McIntosh led the way this morning with a 1:57.17, marking another relaxed prelims swim for the superstar. She was still out relatively fast this morning, swimming a 56.48 on the opening 100. McIntosh then came home in 1:00.69 on the final 100.

McIntosh has already swum personal bests in her four other events at this meet, which included World Records in the 400 free and 400 IM, as well as Canadian and World Junior Records in the 200 IM and 200 fly. Given those performances to this point in the meet, we can expect that McIntosh will make it five-for-five tonight on personal bests, and she’ll break the Canadian and World Junior Records in the race tonight.

Ella Jansen had a very solid swim this morning, clocking a 1:58.52 for second. Her time came in just 0.22 seconds off her seed. Importantly, she was also under the FINA ‘A’ cut of 1:58.66.

MEN’S 200 FREESTYLE – HEATS

• World Record: 1:42.00, Paul Biedermann (Germany) – 2009
• Canadian Record: 1:46.40, Brent Hayden – 2008
• FINA ‘A’ Cut: 1:47.06

TOP 10 QUALIFIERS:

1. Patrick Hussey – 1:49.54
2. Tomas Navikonis – 1:49.82
3. Josh Liendo – 1:49.88
4. Javier Acevedo – 1:49.94
5. Jeremy Bagshaw – 1:50.00
6. Yu Tong Wu – 1:50.05
7. Finlay Knox – 1:50.52
8. Paul Dardis – 1:50.77
9. Aiden Norman – 1:51.24
10. Blake Tierney – 1:51.63

Patrick Hussey had a huge swim this morning, cracking his seed time of 1:50.67 by over a second, swimming a 1:49.54 for the top time of the morning. Lithuania’s Tomas Navikonis was second this morning with a 1:49.82. As a foreign swimmer, Navikonis will be relegated to the ‘B’ final tonight.

In his first of two races this morning, Josh Liendo got after it, swimming a 1:49.88 for the third-fastest time of the morning. The performance marks a lifetime best for Liendo and his first time under 1:50 in the event.

Top seed Finlay Knox was a bit off his seed time of 1:47.92 this morning, clocking a 1:50.52 for seventh overall. The most important thing is that he grabbed a lane for tonight, so keep an eye on Knox as he attempts to hit the FINA ‘A’ cut.

WOMEN’S 50 BUTTERFLY – HEATS

• World Record: 24.43, Sarah Sjostrom (Sweden) – 2014
• Canadian Record: 25.62, Penny Oleksiak – 2017

TOP 10 QUALIFIERS:

1. Katerine Savard – 26.59
2. Kylie Masse – 26.99
3. Kamryn Cannings – 27.10 (Tie)
4. Danielle Hanus (Tie)
5. Ingrid Wilm – 27.37
6. Clare Watson – 27.67
7. Eloise Allen – 27.70
8. Blythe Wieclawek – 27.78
9. Paige Korbely – 27.90 (Tie)
10. Leilani Fack – 27.90 (Tie)

Top seed Katerine Savard clocked the top time of the morning in the women’s 50 fly, swimming a 26.59. The swim was about half a second off Savard’s seed time; however, she still posted the fastest time this morning by 0.40 seconds. Savard has set herself up well for tonight’s final. Also of note, Savard also swam the 200 free this morning, where she finished fourth, qualifying for the ‘A’ final tonight.

Kylie Masse came in second this morning, swimming a 26.99.

There were two ties in the top ten this morning. Kamryn Cummings and Danielle Hanus tied for third, both swimming 27.10. Paige Korbely and Leilani Fack also tied, both finishing ninth in 27.90. There was a very nearly a three-way tie for ninth, which would have resulted in a swim-off, as Sela Wist took 11th this morning in 27.91, just 0.01 seconds slower than Fack and Korbely.

MEN’S 50 BUTTERFLY – HEATS

• World Record: 22.27, Andriy Govorov (Ukraine) – 2018
• Canadian Record: 23.30, Santo Condorelli – 2015

TOP 10 QUALIFIERS:

1. Ilya Kharun – 23.59
2. Josh Liendo – 23.98
3. Justice Migneault – 24.53 (Tie)
4. Mathieu Ouellet – 24.53 (Tie)
5. Gabriel Tejada – 24.67
6. Alexandra Perreault – 24.70
7. Chris Weeks – 24.71
8. Siu Lun Ho – 24.83
9. Thomas McDonald – 24.86
10. Keir Ogilvie – 24.92

Ilya Kharun popped off a new personal best of 23.59 in the men’s 50 fly this morning, taking 0.14 seconds off his previous best. He also closed in on the Canadian Record of 23.30 with the performance.

Josh Liendo, who also swam the 200 free very shortly before racing the 50 fly this morning, came in second with a 23.98. Liendo was half a second off his personal best of 23.42.

That sets up a really fun race tonight as both Liendo, the 100 fly champion and Canadian Record holder, and Kharun, the 200 fly champion and Canadian Record holder, will be going head-to-head in an attempt to both win the title and take down the Canadian Record of 23.30.

WOMEN’S 800 FREESTYLE – SLOWER HEATS

• World Record: 8:04.79, Katie Ledecky (USA) – 2016
• Canadian Record: 8:20.02, Brittany MacLean – 2014
• FINA ‘A’ Cut: 8:37.90

TOP 3:

1. Ella Cosgrove – 8:47.72
2. Marit Anderson – 9:00.98
3. Megan Frost – 9:04.78

Leading the way through the early heats of the women’s 800 free is Ella Cosgrove, a 15-year-old who blew away her seed time of 9:12.17. Cosgrove clocked an 8:47.72, posting the top time of the early heat by a whopping 13 seconds. Importantly, only three swimmers in the fastest heat tonight are seeded faster than Cosgrove swam this morning, so she has a chance to move up far into the top 10 when all is said and done.

MEN’S 1500 FREESTYLE – SLOWER HEATS

• World Record: 14:31.02, Sun Yang (China) – 2012
• Canadian Record: 14:39.63, Ryan Cochrane – 2012
• FINA ‘A’ Cut: 15:04.64

TOP 3:

1. Guillaume Lord – 15:53.76
2. Kieran Watson – 15:54.72
3. Edouard Duffy – 16:04.00

Guillaume Lord took three seconds off his seed to cl0ck the top time of the early heats in the men’s 1500 free. Lord swam a 15:53.76, touching just ahead of Kieran Watson (15:54.72). Lord’s time is faster than one of the swimmers’ seeds in the fastest heat that will swim in finals tonight, so he may be able to crack into the top 10.