Surprise Canada! Feel the Sting!
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Swimming trials wrap up with 27 Canadian Olympians
See original article HERE
John MacKinnon, Canwest News Service Published: Sunday, April 06, 2008
MONTREAL – Joe Bartoch had a “wardrobe malfunction” with his out-of-the-box, brand-new Speedo LZR Racer suit, but still helped Canada’s 4×100-metre medley relay team slice three seconds off the Canadian record to put the exclamation point on the Canadian Olympic Swimming Trials on Sunday.
“We were panicking out there but the Speedo representative took care of me and she got it working,” the London, Ont., butterfly specialist said of the suit he struggled into for the first time only to break the drawstring on the waist.
The relay team swam all alone in Lane 5 to try to post a qualifying time for the Beijing Games, which meant they just had to go for it with no one to pace themselves against. They were also minus Brent Hayden, the 2007 world champion in the 100-metre freestyle, who is nursing a cranky back he injured posing for photos in the new suit in late February. Joel Greenshields of Airdrie, Alta., replaced Hayden as relay anchor.
“It was really weird, it looked like they were going really slow and I was, like, ‘Oh, man,’” Bartoch said of the one-off race. “But they were smoking.”
Did he think the time of three minutes 34.99 seconds would be fast enough to earn one of three remaining berths in the 16-country relay field at Beijing?
“Oh, yeah, that’s going for sure, that’s good,” said Bartoch, who had set the Canadian record in winning the 100-metre butterfly final on Saturday. “That’s a really good time for us.”
That was one of three Canadian records to fall on Sunday, making it an even 10 national marks set over the six-day meet at the Olympic Pool that will send 27 Canadian swimmers to the Beijing Olympics.
Montreal sprinter Victoria Poon, a native of Hong Kong, broke the Canadian record in the women’s 50-metre freestyle, swimming the distance in 25.47, four one-hundredths shy of the FINA standard of 25.43.
And Victoria, B.C., distance specialist Ryan Cochrane, who set the Canadian record in the 400-metre freestyle on Tuesday, swam the gruelling 1,500-metre freestyle in 14:54.66 on Sunday, slashing more than four seconds off his previous mark of 14:59.02.
Edmonton’s Kier Maitland was second in that race in 15:31.49, well off his personal best of 15:25.28 and not close to the FINA A qualifying standard of 15:13.16.
“I thought I could make the time today,” Maitland said. “I had to believe that I could go under the time standard, that’s what you’ve got to do.”
“Ryan usually goes out and even splits the whole thing and stays the pace the whole way. This time he went out faster than he usually does and he actually even slowed down near the end.
“But his pace shouldn’t affect me. I should be able to race my own race.
With Hayden sidelined, Richard Hortness of Medicine Hat, Alta., finished first in what he called the “splash and dash,” men’s 50-metre freestyle.
“I had been focusing on the 100 (metre freestyle) for a really long time,” said Hortness, who was fifth in that event, qualifying as the alternate on the men’s 4×100-metre freestyle relay. “The last couple of weeks it’s been ‘Yeah, maybe something good can come from this 50, but I wasn’t expecting this.
“But it’s definitely not a bad thing.”
The surprise qualifier on Sunday was 15-year-old Lindsay Seeman of Newmarket, Ont., who won the 200-metre backstroke in 2:12.06, upsetting favourite Liz Wycliffe of Kingston, Ont., (2:13.80) to earn an Olympic berth.
“I was just amazed, I knew I was on track, I could see everyone behind me and I was so thrilled the entire way,” said the giggly Seeman, who led comfortably wire-to-wire. “I was very confident.
“I was feeling a little sick this morning, but it wore off by this afternoon. I knew if I went out ahead of everyone, I’d have a little bit of an advantage, like, mentally, and so it was part of my plan.”
Young as she is, Seeman already has competed in three international competitions, but not like this, not the Olympics. Had the reality sunk in?
“No, not even close,” Seeman giggled.
Third-time Olympian Brian Johns of Regina, already on the team as a member of the 4×200-metre freestyle relay and the 400-metre individual medley, won the men’s 200-metre IM in 2:01.31 to add that race to his dance card in China.
Edmonton Journal
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