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Canadian Women Breaststrokers Still Have Medley Relay Work To Do

2024 CANADIAN OLYMPIC & PARALYMPIC TRIALS

We entered day two of the 2024 Canadian Olympic & Paralympic Trials with more swift times thrown down at Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.

Among the events on tonight’s agenda was the women’s 100m breaststroke, which saw a battle to the wall with fewer than .32 separating the top 3 performers.

Getting to the wall first was Sophie Angus with the 25-year-old stopping the clock in a time of 1:06.96 as the sole sub-1:07 swimmer of the field.

Directly behind was Kelsey Wog who notched 1:07.00 for silver as Sydney Pickrem rounded out the podium in 1:07.27.

None of the top finishers dipped under the Olympic Qualification time of 1:06.79 needed to earn an individual berth for Paris 2024. However, the final did bring about some implications for the Canadian women’s 4x100m medley relay.

Canadian women won bronze in the medley relay event at the 2020 Olympic Games and at the 2024, 2023 and 2022 editions of the World Championships.

The breaststroke leg has changed up across the elite competitions, with Rachel Nicol serving duties in 2022 while Angus raced on the 2023 and 2024 relays.

At the Luxembourg Euro Meet this past January, 21-year-old Shona Braton put her hat in the ring with a solid 1:06.59 performance in the individual 100m breast. That outing rendered her Canada’s 6th-fastest performer ever in the event.

However, Braton mustered just 1:07.54 this evening to place 4th at these Canadian Olympic Trials.

Before Braton’s head-turning outing in January, it was 17-year-old Alexanne Lepage who made some noise at the 2023 World Junior Championships.

There in Netanya, Lepage punched a time of 1:06.58 to take the gold, becoming Canada’s 5th-quickest. performer in the process. That looked promising for the teen to take on the medley relay role if not an individual Olympic berth. However tonight she clocked 1:07.59 to fall to 5th in the Olympic Trials final.

Angus turning in the top time of 1:06.96 now positions her as the breaststroke leg medley relay go-to for Paris. But she’ll need to crank out something spectacular to contest the likes of the United States and Australia. The former saw Lydia Jacoby throw down a split of 1:05.03 while the latter had Chelse Hodges register 1:05.57 on their respective breaststroke legs at the 2020 Olympic Games to finish ahead of Canada.

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CanuckSwimFan
5 months ago

one name that I didn’t see entered in the 100 m breaststroke event was Rachel Nichol, who had swum for Canada many times. She was part of the 2016 Olympic team (finished 5th in the individual race) but she recently won the Pan-Am gold 100m breast in Oct 2023 in 1:07.28. Given that performance I was a bit surprised to learn she retired in January. Happy Retirement to her. Thanks for representing Canada so well.

ScovaNotiaSwimmer
5 months ago

Has it been noted anywhere that Shima Taghavi broke Allison Higson’s long-standing 11-12 100 Breast NAG?

Greg P
Reply to  ScovaNotiaSwimmer
5 months ago

Yes, in the live recap article.

Andy
5 months ago

Are they able to do a time trial at the end of the meet to try and get the times?

Troyy
Reply to  Braden Keith
5 months ago

I wish SwimAus would hold time trials of 50 strokes at Olympic trials.

Just Keep Swimming
Reply to  Troyy
5 months ago

That’s what Nationals are for. Trials are just for trials.

Troyy
Reply to  Just Keep Swimming
5 months ago

No one’s tapered at nationals.

Doe
Reply to  Troyy
5 months ago

No one’s ever tapered

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  Doe
5 months ago

LOL!

Troyy
Reply to  Doe
5 months ago

Feel free to compare the times at nationals to trials when they happen 👍

Doe
Reply to  Braden Keith
5 months ago

I didn’t know she was Canadian!

Andy
5 months ago

Can they take Braton for an individual swim if she’s swum an A time within the qualifying period?

Bo Swims
Reply to  Braden Keith
5 months ago

Lepage is 0.01 faster in the Qualification period and the Lux meet was not mentioned in the policy preamble… World Jr’s is mentioned

The 2024 World Aquatics Championships will take place in Feb. 2024 in Doha, Qatar. The selection criteria for the pool and the open water teams at those championships will draw athletes and coaches from a number of eligible events in 2023. The Fukuoka 2023 World Championships for the pool and open water team (July 2023) will act as the first selection competition for the 2024 worlds. The Canadian Swimming Championships (Aug. 1-6 at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre), the Canadian Open Water Festival (Aug. 12 in Welland, Ont.), the World Junior Swimming Championships (Sept. 4-9… Read more »

Curious George
Reply to  Bo Swims
5 months ago

Where did you read that?

CanuckSwimFan
Reply to  Braden Keith
5 months ago

@BradenKeith. I think you have typo.. where you say Priority 5 I think you meant to put Priority 3. (finish 1-2 but A at other meets ). Priority 5 is to enhance relays. ( swimcan priority doesn’t say this but I assume priority 5 also dependent on relay swimmer limitations and/ or if swimmer has QT )

CanuckSwimFan
Reply to  Braden Keith
5 months ago

yes It seems one aim of the new updates was to give better clarity to how relay spots would be awarded. And also to renumber things to keep us on our toes lol.

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
5 months ago

comment image

Rafael
5 months ago

Talking about usa and australia while china might actually be even ahead of australia

Troyy
Reply to  Rafael
5 months ago

Based on what we currently know I agree but Australia still has trials to come and China has a habit of underperforming in the women’s medley relay.

Last edited 5 months ago by Troyy
Peter
Reply to  Troyy
5 months ago

China is to be banned

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  Rafael
5 months ago

Smith, Regan – 57.74 dated 13 Apr 2024
Jacoby, Lydia – 1:05.74 dated 11 Apr 2024
Huske, Torri – 55.68 dated 12 Apr 2024
Douglass, Kate – 52.98 dated 11 Apr 2024

Lydia Jacoby could definitely improve upon the most recent performance in the women’s 100 meter breaststroke at the 2024 Longhorn Elite Invite.

The University of Virginia women’s swimming team is absent from the 2024 Speedo Atlanta Classic. That’s disappointing to say the least.

Plenty of work yet to be done in the W 100 BR and W 100 FR.

Lisa
Reply to  Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
5 months ago

Yes there’s a work to be done but those two times from Jacoby and Douglass is pretty fast for in season swims with also Smith and Huske looks consistent this season so it’s looking good for the US team heading to trials.

Last edited 5 months ago by Lisa
Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  Lisa
5 months ago

Compare the times in the W 100 BR and W 100 FR to the times posted at the 2023 Phillips 66 National Championships.

As the W 100 FR, I’m still hoping Simone Manuel has that monster taper in her locker.

Greg P
Reply to  Rafael
5 months ago

Australia will have to find a breastroker who swim 1:06 low flat start. Otherwise China will beat them.

Samuel Huntington
5 months ago

Medals are AUS, USA, and CHN. I don’t see Canada in the picture.

Greg P
Reply to  Samuel Huntington
5 months ago

They can if one of the three DSQ

CanuckSwimFan
Reply to  Samuel Huntington
5 months ago

On paper perhaps but the medals are won in the pool not on paper. Medley being at the end of the meet can produce occasional surprises when energy levels may be less. Especially if swimmers have had busy programs etc. E.g. at last Olympics Canada was in the lead after the backstroke. Not all swimmers often swim their best times in the medley. Interestingly in Paris the medley relays heats are the morning the day before the finals whereas I think they have most often been the same day.

Verram
5 months ago

You can pretty much copy and paste this storyline for Australian Trials haha

Greg P
Reply to  Verram
5 months ago

And just changed the names!

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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