Canadian Trials, Day 3 Prelims: Summer McIntosh Leads 200 IM Prelims
Fresh off two world record chases in as many days, Summer McIntosh had an easy go of it in Monday’s prelims of the 200 individual medley at Canadian Trials.
McIntosh went 2:12.13 to earn the top seed in Monday’s final, the third night of six at Saanich Commonwealth Place. She’s the top seed by a quarter second over Mary-Sophie Harvey, who went 2:12.49.
It’ll be a clash of two double winners. McIntosh is the reigning Olympic gold medalist and Canadian record holder at 2:06.56. She may fancy a run at Katinka Hosszu’s 2:06.12 world record. McIntosh set the world record in the 400 free on Saturday and came within a second of Katie Ledecky’s 800 free world mark Sunday night.
Harvey is in plenty good form, too. She opened the meet by winning the 200 breaststroke and added the 100 fly title on Sunday.
Penny Oleksiak led the way in the women’s 50 freestyle with a time of 25.11. Second was Taylor Ruck in 25.26, Ruck having already made worlds in the 100 back. Sarah Fournier was third in 25.39, then four tenths back to Leah Tigert leading five swimmers between 25.79 and 26.0. The A cut is 24.86.
Ruslan Gaziev, nine days removed from his 18-month doping suspension for whereabouts violations, led the men’s 50 free field in 22.21. He’s a tenth ahead of Ilya Kharun. Josh Liendo was third in 22.49, followed by Yuri Kisil. The next finishers head to the B final as internationals, Nikoli Blackman going 22.80 and Ali Sayed 22.87. The A cut for Worlds in 22.05.
Alexanne Lepage and Sophie Angus have a battle brewing in the 100 breast as the only two to break 1:09. Lepage will get the middle lane in 1:07.50. Angus is second in 1:07.78. The nearest competitor is Italian international Anita Bottazzo, who will lead the B final with her 1:09.01. Shona Branton is the next Canadian, having gone 1:09.14.
Lepage and Angus were both seeded in the 1:06s, under the auto cut of 1:06.87.
Finlay Knox paced the men’s breaststrokers in 1:00.68. Second was Oliver Dawson, the 200 breast champion. He went 1:00.92 and will have the Canadian age-group record of 1:00.69, set in 2019 by Gabe Mastromatteo, in his sights in finals.
Justice Migneault was third among Canadians in 1:02.20, followed distantly by Paris Olympian Apollo Hess in 1:03.04. The B final is led by Lithuanian international Aleksas Savickas, who was third-fastest in the morning in 1:01.17.
The auto qualification standard in this event, 59.75, is a tenth of a second quicker than the Canadian record.
In the paraswimming events, Sebastian Massabie bested his Canadian record in the S5 50 butterfly, going 36.59 to trim nearly three-quarters of a second off his mark from March.
