This report was contributed by Mike Thompson, a Canadian swim coach and journalist, who is one of the leading voices in Canadian swimming. Check out his blog at CoachMikeSwim.Blogspot.com, and his weekly Canadian-themed podcast here. You can also follow him on Twitter at@CoachMikeSwim.
Things got started a little late this morning due to an on deck accident that required some medical assistance, but the story on day 3 of Canadian Age Group Championships was 15-year-old Teddy Kelp of North York Aquatic club posting the fastest 800 freestyle time of the meet with a time of 8:19.54. This beats the top finishers in the 17-18 age category, Vancouver’s Luke Reilly (8:22.14) and Teddy’s Team Mate, Alex Hamilton of North York (8:22.71). Teddy has made very significant improvement this season and will a very interesting attraction in the 200FR Saturday and 400FR Sunday.
Alexandra Aitchison, swimming unattached, (represents Sun Devil Aquatic in the USA) dominated the 15-year-old girls 800FR (8:56.12) while Sherry Liu of HYAC dominated the 16-18 girls category.
Other swims of note were:
- Ottawa’s Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson keeping things very close in the girl’s 16-18 100 breaststroke. Kierra Smith of Kelowna BC managed to hold on to the race winning in a time of 1:09.39 to Erika’s 1:09.81.
- Sydney Pickrem of Quebec continued to earn gold, winning the 15-year-old girl’s 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:12.45, but was pushed very hard by 2nd place Marie-Laurence Godin (1:12.62) and 3rd place Genevive Robertson of Guelph, ON (1:12.69).
- Bryce Kwiecien-Delaney of Oakville, ON continued his winning streak, earning gold in the 15-year-old boys 50 freestyle in a time of 23.87.
- Noemie Thomas of Vancouver continued her winning streak in the fly events, dominating the girls 16-18 200 butterfly in a (seemingly) relaxed time of 2:14.09.
Watch for exciting 100 backstroke races tomorrow, as hometown swimmers Russel Wood and Brooklyn Snodgrass of Calgary will look to finish a sweep of the backstroke events.
Live results of the Canadian Age Group Championships can be found here: https://swimming.ca/liveresults/2012AgeGroup/
Live video streaming can be found here: http://www.swimcanweb.tv/