2022 Canadian Swimming Trials: Day 5 Finals Live Recap

2022 CANADIAN SWIMMING TRIALS

• April 5th-April 10th, 2022
• Saanich Commonwealth Place, Victoria, BC
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results
• Live Stream
• Qualification Standards

DAY 5 FINALS HEAT SHEET

Tonight, on the second to last day of Canadian trials, the 200 back and the 400 IM, as well as the para 150 IM and 200 IM will be raced.

Kylie Masse and Taylor Ruck came as the top seeds in the women’s 200 back following prelims. The two of them both finaled in the Olympics last year in this event, which means we are probably going to be in for a battle between the two again tonight. In the women’s 400 IM, we will get to see 15-year-old superstar Summer McIntosh once again. She is racing in her fourth event out of five, and she previously won the 400 free, 200 free, and 200 fly earlier this meet. This February, she wowed us by going a new best time of 4:29.12, which made her the third-fastest performer in history in the event. While she was off that time this morning in prelims, swimming a time of 4:38.89, it was still good enough to win the heats by five seconds and puts her as the favorite to win tonight.

WOMEN’S 200 BACKSTROKE – FINALS

• World Record – 2:03.35, Regan Smith, 2019
• Canadian Record – 2:05.42, Kylie Masse, 2019
• FINA ‘A’ Standard – 2:11.08

Podium:

1. Kylie Masse – 2:07.66
2. Taylor Ruck – 2:09.63
3. Ingrid Wilm – 2:11.61

The 200 back was a repeat of our 100 back podium, with reigning Olympic silver medalist Kylie Masse taking the win. It was close between her and Taylor Ruck, with Ruck actually being in the lead in the first 100, going out in a 1:02.87 compared to Masse’s 1:03.11. However, Masse was back in a 1:04.55, over two seconds faster than Ruck’s 1:06.76 back half, and had a body length over her to take the win. Both swimmers were under the FINA ‘A” cut, booking them a spot on the World team in the event.

Ingrid Wilm finished in a distant third, but had a very strong 1:06.29 back half to shave over a second off her previous best time of 2:12.76. Wilm previously finished third to Masse and Ruck in the 100 back.

Masse’s time is currently the fourth-fastest in the world, behind Regan Smith, Kaylee McKeown, and Claire Curzan.

MEN’S 200 BACKSTROKE – FINALS

• World Record – 1:51.92, Aaron Peirsol, 2009
• Canadian Record – 1:56.96, Markus Thormeyer, 2019
• FINA ‘A’ Standard – 1:58.07

Podium:

1. Richie Stokes – 1:58.79
2. Blake Tierney – 1:59.19
3. Hugh McNeil – 2:01.69

Blake Tierney was leading the majority of this race, before Richie Stokes came charging home in a 29.82 on his last 50 to win the race. Stokes split 58.46/1:00.33 compared to Tierney’s 58.18/1:01.01, out splitting him by 0.69 on his back half. Although Stokes is a few tenths off of the FINA ‘A’ cut, he could still possibly qualify for the worlds team through out of Canada’s secondary qualification priorities.

Both Tierney and Stokes swam best times, with Stokes dropping over a second from his previous best of 1:59.49 and Tierney being a few tenths faster than his best time of 1:59.19.

Evangelos Makrygiannis went the fastest time overall, swimming to a 1:58.16 in the “B” final. He was not elligble for swimming in the “A” final because he is Greek and not Canadian.

WOMEN’S 400 IM – FINALS

• World Record – 4:26.36, Katinka Hosszu, 2016
• Canadian Record – 4:29.12, Summer McIntosh, 2022
• FINA ‘A’ Standard – 4:43.06

Podium:

1. Summer McIntosh – 4:34.86
2. Tessa Cieplucha – 4:39.49
3. Ella Jansen– 4:41.43

As we expected, Summer McIntosh dominated this race, swimming a 4:34.86 to qualifying for her fourth event at worlds. She had a fast front half, splitting 1:00.278 on fly and 1:09.42. In fact, her front half pacing was almost identical to how she swam her front half in her famous 4:29.12 swim. She then slowed down a bit her back half today, going 1:20.99 on breast and 1:04.56 on free.  Still, she won the race by nearly four seconds and the time is still faster than what anyone else went this year.

Tessa Cieplucha swam a time of 4:39.49, also getting under the FINA ‘A’ cut to qualify for worlds. She finished third in the 200 IM and failed to make the team in the event despite being under the ‘A’ cut, so tonight was a redemption moment for her.

Aside from McIntosh, and Cieplucha, Ella Jansen and Mabel Zavaros were also under the ‘A’ cut, swimming to times of 4;41.43 and 4:41.52 respectively. However, since they were not top two, they will not make the team in the event.

MEN’S 400 IM – FINALS

• World Record – 4:03.84, Michael Phelps, 2008
• Canadian Record – 4:11.41, Brian Johns, 2008
• FINA ‘A’ Standard – 4:17.48

Podium:

1. Collyn Gagne – 4:17.82
2. Jacob Gallant – 4:19.68
3. Lorne Wigginton – 4:21.83

For the first 300 meters of the race, it looked like Collyn Gagne was going to get under the FINA ‘A’ cut. However, he faded on his last 100, splitting a 1:01.98 in the freestyle leg. He was only .4 off the cut though, which means that he could get selected to the worlds team under Canada’s selection priority three, as he met the secondary standard for qualification. In addition, the time is a best time for Gagne, beating out his mark of 4:18.65 from Olympic trials last year.

Jacob Gallant made a strong charge in the final two laps to take second with a time of 4:19.68, while Lorne Wigginton, the fastest 18 and under swimmer in the field, was third with a 4:21.83.

WOMEN’S PARA 150 IM – FINALS

Podium:

1. Jordan Tucker, S4 – 3;50.79
2. Aly Van Wyck-Smart, S3 – 4:44.06

Jordan Tucker was the fastest swimmer overall in the 150 IM, and took the win in the event as well. Keep in mind, swimmers in para events are ranked by points and how close they are to the world record in their respective classes, and not by time.

WOMEN’S PARA 200 IM – FINALS

Podium:

1. Tess Routliffe, S7 – 3:04.62
2. Aurelie Rivard, S10 – 2:34.83
3. Camille Berube, S7 – 3:08.32

Tess Routliffe dropped around 3.5 seconds from her prelims time of 3:08.05 to win the women’s para 200 IM with a time of 3:04.62.

MEN’S PARA 200 IM – FINALS

Podium:

1. Nicholas Bennett, S14 – 2:10.22
2. Alexander Elliot, S10 – 2:17.99
3. Philippe Vachon, S8 – 2:35.37

Nicholas Bennett, who has won multiple titles at this meet, picked up another won in the 200 IM. He swam a time of 2:10.22, crushing his old S14 Canadian record of 2:13.21.