Bell Canadian Trials, Night 4: Taylor Ruck Gets 4th Win, Ella Jansen Wins 3rd
The absence of big names from Bell Canadian Trials has been to the advantage of others at Bell Canadian Trials. Enter Taylor Ruck and Ella Jansen.
Ruck won the women’s 50 freestyle for her fourth win in as many nights in Montreal, and Ella Jansen captured the 200 individual medley for her third win.
Jansen set a best time in the IM, which was without Summer McIntosh and Mary-Sophie Harvey. Ruck flirted with a best time in what has been a revitalizing performance for the 26-year-old at the Montreal Olympic pool.
The action from the penultimate night of Trials:
Women’s 200 individual medley
The event felt the absence of both Summer McIntosh and Mary-Sophie Harvey thanks to their respective illnesses. That left the door open for Ella Jansen to pick up the win in 2:12.28. That’s a best time, trimming nearly three tenths off her swim from April’s Canadian Open.
Jansen has won the 200 free and 400 free and was second to McIntosh in the 400 IM at this meet.
Summer Cardwell was second in 2:14.58, precisely a second quicker than she was in prelims when she finished three tenths behind Jansen. (Jansen went 2:15.21, .01 up on Harvey before she scratched.) Brooklyn Douthwright finished third in 2:15.56. Kamila Blanchard and Kathryn Hazle were in the top five in the 2:16s.
Men’s 200 individual medley
Finlay Knox roared away from the field in 1:57.80 to get the win by more than a second in a battle of swimmers in good form. Lorne Wigginton, fresh off his 400 IM national record, was second in 1:59.01. Tristan Jankovics was third in 2:00.37.
There was a gap back to Laon Kim in fourth in 2:02.02, a half-second up on Anton Semenyuk.
Women’s 50 freestyle
Taylor Ruck added her fourth win of the week by going 24.68. She was nearly six tenths ahead of the field, one that included scratches from both Kylie Masse and Kayla Sanchez.
Ruck also won the 100 back, 100 free and 100 fly. She joins McIntosh as the only Canadian swimmers to win three gold medals in three different strokes in the same meet.
Ruck has been consistently fast this spring. Her best time is a 24.47 from Pan Pacs all the way back in 2018. She was 24.53 at Worlds last summer.
This spring, she’s gone 24.78 at the Canadian Open in April, 24.59 at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Sacramento and 24.67 twice on the Mare Nostrum circuit in May.
Second on Wednesday night was Leilani Fack in 25.26. She outtouched Sarah Fournier by .02 seconds. Reina Liu was a tenth back in 25.38 for fourth. Kelly Choi finished fifth in 25.43.
Men’s 50 freestyle
In a tame final of the 50, Yuri Kisil got to the wall first in 22.31. It was not as impressive as the 21.98 that he threw down in the morning. But then he didn’t have quite as much competition at night.
Ruslan Gaziev scratched the final after a distant second-place 22.64 in the a.m. session. Filip Senc-Samardzic was a DNS in prelims. Antoine Sauve finished 11th in prelims, then sixth when granted a pass to the A finals in 22.88.
That left open the door for new faces in the final. Chris Weeks finished second in 22.58. Luke Stewart-Beinder went 22.74 for third, .03 up on Laon Kim at the fast edge of his specialty area and in a busy double day. Eric Ginzburg was fifth in 22.81. There were nine 22s and no 21s at night.
Women’s 200 breaststroke
Men’s 200 breaststroke
Men’s 1,500 freestyle
Paraswimming events
Reid Maxwell added the S9 Canadian record in the men’s 50 freestyle to his list of achievements, going 27.78. That downs by .01 seconds the mark set in 2012 by Michael Diering.
Maxwell finished fifth overall, with S10s in the first three spots. Fernando Liu won in 24.44 seconds, exactly a second clear of Jagdev Gill.
Sebastian Massabie, who is the S4 world record holder, did not compete in the event.
Aurelie Rivard won the women’s multiclass 50 free, the S10 swimmer going 28.13. Fellow S10 Arianna Hunsicker was second in 28.86.
