2018 CANADIAN SWIMMING TRIALS
- July 18-22, 2018
- Edmonton, Alberta
- Kinsmen Sports Centre
- Full Selection Criteria
- Psych Sheets
The psych sheets for next week’s Canadian Pan Pac Trials in Edmonton have been released, and there is one major surprise.
Taylor Ruck, who is coming off an eight-medal performance at the Commonwealth Games in April, is only entered to swim the 50, 100 and 200 freestyles, leaving out two of her best events in the 100 and 200 back.
This does come as a bit of a surprise, seeing as Ruck is currently ranked 4th in the world in the 100 and 2nd in the 200, but ultimately it won’t matter at Pan Pacs assuming she makes her way onto the team. Once qualified, a swimmer can be entered in any event at the Championships, including ones they didn’t specifically qualify in.
So, all Ruck needs to do is secure a spot in one of the freestyle events, which she should have no problem doing. She’s the 2nd fastest swimmer in the world this year in the 200, 6th in the 100, and 7th in the 50 free, and has been well under the FINA ‘A’ standard (which Canada will use for qualifying) in all three. You can read about the full selection criteria here.
A potential Pan Pac lineup for Ruck could include up to ten events, with potential additions in both backstrokes, the 200 IM, and four relays to the three freestyle events.
There aren’t really any other surprises based off entries, with Penny Oleksiak and Javier Acevedo expected to be two of the busier swimmers with five entries each. For Oleksiak, entries in the 50 free and 200 fly are maybe a little bit outside of the norm, but we have seen her compete in both multiple times this year so it’s not a surprise.
Among the notable absences are Olympian and National Record holder Noemie Thomas, and Worlds 4-event swimmer Mary-Sophie Harvey.
Notable Entries
Penny Oleksiak
- 50 free
- 100 free
- 200 free
- 100 fly
- 200 fly
Rebecca Smith
- 100 free
- 200 free
- 100 fly
Kayla Sanchez
- 100 free
- 200 free
- 200 IM
Kylie Masse
- 100 back
- 200 back
Sydney Pickrem
- 200 breast
- 200 IM
- 400 IM
Sarah Darcel
- 200 breast
- 200 fly
- 200 IM
- 400 IM
Emily Overholt
- 400 free
- 200 fly
- 200 IM
- 400 IM
Markus Thormeyer
- 100 free
- 200 free
- 100 back
- 200 back
Yuri Kisil
- 50 free
- 100 free
- 200 free
- 100 back
Javier Acevedo
- 100 free
- 200 free
- 100 back
- 200 back
- 200 IM
Where did all the strange dislikes come from suddenly. Some Shenanigans.
I’m not surprised that Taylor Ruck only participate in freestyle, she is the fastest in this year, she is also trained by Ben Titley, he really is good, to train girls in 50, 100 and 200 freestyle. The objective is only to get the pass to compete in Pan Pac, then Taylor can be registered in 8 competitions. It will be interesting to see Taylor’s evolution when she joins Stanford.
It will be interesting to see the results obtained by Penny Oleksiak after training in Florida, she moved to Florida to prepare for the trials and pan pacs, I hope she gets better in her times especially in 200free and 200fly, she has focused a lot on those competitions in… Read more »
It could be that Ruck’s in the middle of heavy training and won’t have the energy to swim more than three events at the trials. As long as she qualifies for one, even only for a relay, she can still compete in backstroke at the Pan Pacifics. Or maybe she just plans on having an easier meet than the Commonwealth games while getting ready for Stanford this fall. Nothing wrong with either possibility.
Oleksiak on the other hand seems to be preparing for a big campaign at the Pan Pacifics. I hope it goes well for her – it’s been a while since she’s been in top form, but she’s shown a lot of promise in the last few months.
Yeah, that 2:05 in the 200 Free in Gainesville showed particular promise,
And her flying 54.33 in CG
She went a 2:09 200 fly for a major PB and then an event later went 54.5 in the 100 free from a flat start just a few weeks ago. If Troy has figured out how to best taper her, she’ll be good at Pan Pac Trials and excellent at Pan Pacs.
I look at that swim the same way I look at Caeleb’s 1:52 swim.
1) Ruck recently said that she wants to succeed in freestyle: first of all she’s a freestyler.
2) In the main events (particularly Olympics) she’ll have to choose: it will be difficult swimming at her best 100 free and 200 back (colliding) and 100 back and 200 free (colliding).
For Missy Franklin at her peak (London2012) the best event was 200 back, then 100 back, then 200 free and clearly the last the 100 free, the lone race without strong medal hopes.
Ruck is a swimmer still in evolution, but I think that between 200 free and 100 back she’ll focus on 200 free, whilst it could be more difficult the choice between 100 free and 200… Read more »
Rucks entries makes sense, this is about the ticket, nothing else, her trajectory is … golden. Oleksiaks entries are just as interesting. I really, really hope the Rio Golden Girl gives herself the time to be motivated for 2020 and not focus so much on this year and results in the pool