Kamryn Cannings Continues Climb of Canadian Rankings in Calgary

UC Dino Cup & Cascade Speed Meet

• October 29-30, 30-31, 2021
• Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• Short Course Meters (25 meters)
• Meet Results

As meet hosting restrictions continue to drive unusually-formatted events, the paired UC Dino Cup & Cascade Speed Meet over the weekend saw more lifetime bests for Canada’s new teenage sensation Kamryn Cannings as she raced among some of Canada’s best.

In the UC Dino Cup that kicked off the weekend, Cannings swam, and won, the 50 fly (27.11), 100 fly (59.53), and 200 IM (2:17.44) while also placing 2nd in the 200 fly (2:12.13). All of those are new lifetime bests for the 15-year old.

She then zipped across town to race at the Cascade Speed Meet, where she won the 50 free in a new best time of 25.62 – shaving a few hundredths off her previous best time from two weeks earlier. She had a relay leadoff swim of 25.43 from Friday as well.

She also added a best time in the 400 free of 4:16.24, which was a ten-second improvement on her previous best time and placed her 4th.

The swims continued to climb her up Canada’s all-time rankings for 15 year olds. She now ranks as the country’s 4th- best all-time in the 100 fly in short course meters, for example, behind only an all-star list of:

1. Penny Oleksiak (58.20, 2015)
2. Noemie Thomas (58.56, 2011)
3. Maggie MacNeil (59.02, 2015)
4. Kamryn Cannings (59.53, 2021)
5. Danika Huizinga (59.55, 2014)

The three women ahead of her went on to break Canadian senior records, qualify for Olympic Teams, and in the case of both Oleksiak and MacNeil, win Olympic gold medals.

She also ranks 4th-best all-time among Canadian 15-year olds in the 50 fly, 10th-best in the 200 fly, and 7th-best in the 50 free.

Rebecca Smith Rips a Best Time

Rebecca Smith, a member of the University of Calgary varsity squad and a Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medalist, swam a new lifetime best to win the women’s 400 free.

Her time of 4:05.91 now ties her with Kennedy Goss as the 9th-best Canadian in the history of the event.

Smith, who is still only 21, trained into the Olympic Games at the High Performance Center in Toronto, as did many of Canada’s top athletes.

Smith also won the 200 free (1:55.64), 100 free (53.87), and 50 free (25.52) in the first half of the weekend’s racing before sitting out the second half. She is on Canada’s roster for December’s Short Course World Championships.

A swimmer who is not on that roster for Canada is Ingrid Wilm, who was a breakout star of the 2021 ISL season. A member of the LA Current, Wilm’s home club is the Cascade Swim Club, which hosted the second half of the weekend.

There she swam just one race, the 50 fly, where a 26.96 just-missed her lifetime best in the event.

Wilm is the #1-ranked 100 backstroker in the world, and the surprising-new Canadian Record holder in that event, but hasn’t been swimming the event in the local meets that she’s raced since returning from the ISL.

Wilm’s LA Current will resume their ISL season next week in Eindhoven with the Playoff round.

Other Top Performances

• UBC 2nd year Justice Migneault continued a hot start to his second collegiate season. At the UC Dino Cup, he swam new lifetime bests in the 100 back (54.81), 100 breast (59.83), 100 fly (53.66), and 200 IM (2:02.32). That 100 back time would have made him the 7th seed coming out of the short course prelims at the most recent U Sports Championships in spring 2021. The 100 breast would have ranked him 1st, the 100 fly would have ranked him 2nd, and the 200 IM would have ranked him 5th.
• University of Calgary varsity swimmer Nathan Versluys just-missed his best time in the 200 free with a 1:48.15.
• At the Cascade Speed meet, 16-year old Emma Finlin won the 800 free in 8:35.16 and the 400 free in 4:14.56. That 800 free time is about half-a-second shy of her lifetime best from July that ranks her 8th all-time among Canadian 16-year olds.
• 13-year old Maxine Clark came very close to breaking Rebecca Smith‘s Alberta Provincial Age Record in the 100 free. She split 56.81 on a 400 free relay leadoff, which was half-a-second shy of Smith’s 2014 record of 56.32.