As a part of the squad that made its annual pilgrimage to Oregon in the United States for the Paul Bergen International meet, Breanne Siwicki has knocked another two seconds off of her Canadian National Age Group Record in the 400 IM.
In a 25 meter race, Siwicki swam a 4:35.85 to win ahead of a truly international field that included runner-up Kathrin Demler from Germany in a 4:40.
Siwicki’s swim took down her own record for 15-17’s that was swum just a week earlier in 4:38.33.
What a difference 8 days can make; Siwicki was faster in every part of this 400 IM except for the closing freestyle: a full second on the fly, seven-tenths on the backstroke; over a second on the breaststroke leg. Her 100 free at the end was about the same speed, but by that point she had already done the work to be a mile ahead of the record.
The next-fastest swimmer in the age group in this race is Marni Oldershaw, who was a 4:38.52 at this same meet last year.
Siwicki will head to the United States to train at the University of Minnesota next fall.
Breanne will be an NCAA finalist in her freshman year for Kelly and has a great shot at the Canadian Olympic team in 2016.
It was fun to help Breanne and her parents and work with her club coach Tom Hainey. He is an excellent coach and he actually predicted that Breanne would go this 400 IM time in December.
They are a great family and she is a fine young lady. Canada has another great one.