Three Island Swimmers go under world best in the 1500 freestyle on the final day of Canadian World Championship Trials

The final night of the Canadian World Championship Trials started out with an amazing race in the women’s 800 freestyle. Olympians Savannah King and Alex Komornycky, who both raced the 800 in London, battled each other for the entire race.

At the 200 meter mark Komarnycky led King by 37 one-hundredths of a second, at the 400 meter mark King led Komarnycky by 16 one-hundredths of a second, at the 600 meter mark King led Komarnycky by four tenths of a second and at the 800 meter mark it was King who held on to win the event in a time of 8:33.49 followed by Komarnycky who finished second posting a time of 8:34.17.

Just like last years Olympic Trials, it was King winning, Komarnycky coming second and both women under the FINA A time of 8:34.33.

The winner of the 1500 freestyle Tabitha Baumann finished third touching in a time of 8:41.13.

Only minutes after swimming the 800 freestyle Alexa Komarnycky stood on the blocks for the final of the women’s 200 IM. Much like the 400 IM this was a battle between Komarnycky and Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson and just like the 400 IM Seltenreich-Hodgson made a significant push in the breaststroke leg to take the lead.

Unlike the 400 IM Komarnycky did not have enough left to retake the lead in the freestyle.

Seltenreich-Hodgson finished first in a time of 2:13.29. Komarnycky finished in a time of  2:14.28 and for the second time in less than 30 minutes finished second in an event posting a time that was under the FINA A standard (2:14.97).

Page Schultz of the Toronto Swim Club finished third in a time of 2:15.78.

Unlike the first two races of the evening the men’s 200 IM did not have the same type of suspense. That was thanks to Olympian Andrew Ford who took hold of the race in the first 50 and never relinquished control, winning the event by over two seconds in a new meet record time of 2:00.03.

Evan White and Alec Page fought for second spot with White finishing second in a time of 2:02.38 followed by Page who touched in a time of 2:02.46.

Both athletes were far slower than the FINA A standard of 1:59.99.

The women’s 50 freestyle final was a battle between Chantal VanLandeghem and team PPO. VanLandeghem got the best of the team of sprinters from Quebec winning the race 25.19, qualifying for her first individual event in Barcelona. Victoria Poon finished second in a time of 25.24, which is under the FINA A standard of 25.34.

Finishing third in a time of 25.44 was Sandrine Mainville who has already qualified for the team in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay.

The men’s 50 freestyle final was all about the finish. Chris Manning, who was the top qualifier in the morning, showed that finishes were a big part of his preparation winning the final in a time of 22.71 only one one-hundredths of a second ahead of second place finisher Luke Peddie and seven one-hundredths of a second ahead of third place finisher Kelly Aspinall.

Manning qualifies for his first event at the World Championships with the win, while Peddie’s time of 22.72 did not make the FINA A standard of 22.33.

The women’s 200 breaststroke was an exciting race, for the second spot.

Tera Van Beilen, who had already qualified for the World Championship team by winning the 100 breaststroke, was determined to add the 200 to her schedule in Barcelona. Van Beilen lead the race from beginning to end taking the first 100 out in a time of 1:09.77 winning the event in a time of 2:25.84, which is the third fastest time in the world this year.

The 200 breaststroke was the last chance for 2011 World Championships bronze medalist Martha McCabe to make the team and she cut it close. It was tight between McCabe and Ashley McGregor for the entire race. McCabe separated her self a bit in the third 50, but McGregor would not go away battling right to the wall. In the end McCabe had just enough to hold off McGregor finishing second in a time of 2:27.25 followed by McGregor who touched in a time of 2:27.55.

Both McCabe and McGregor were under the FINA A standard of 2:27.88.

The final night of competition seemed to be one exciting race after another and the men’s 200 breaststroke was one of them. The widest margin between Richard Funk and Ashton Baumann was 14 one-hundredths of a second at the 100 meter mark. In the end there was no separation between the two, with both Funk and Baumann finishing in a time of 2:14.84.

With the two swimmers tied the following rule within the selection criteria will apply:

IV. TIE BREAKING

Where there is a tie in the Swimmer selection process a swim-off shall be conducted at a time mutually agreed upon by the Swimmers and their Personal Coaches. If a swim-off cannot be agreed upon within a timeline determined by the Swimming Canada Selection Committee, then the Selection Committee shall have the full discretion to determine a tie breaking methodology.

As of now a swim-off time has not been set.

16 year old James Guest finished third in a time of 2:15.87, which is just over the 15-17 year old national record of 2:15.44 set by Mathieu Bois in 2005.

In the final individual event of the competition Ryan Cochrane swam a world best in the 1500 freestyle winning the event in a time of 14:59.73. Cochrane is the only swimmer this year to dip down under the 15 minute mark.

Cochrane was not the only swimmer to better Mack Horton’s 15:04.87, in fact he was not the only swimmer from his team to do so. Island Swimming’s Will Brothers finished second in a time of 15:02.48 followed by his teammate Eric Hedlin who finished third in a time of 15:03.64.

Both Brothers and Hedlin were under the FINA A standard of 15:14.38.