2024 Canadian Open Psychs: Summer McIntosh takes on All Four 100s Plus 200 FR/IM And 50 FR

2024 SPEEDO CANADIAN SWIMMING OPEN

• April 10-13, 2024
• Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre
• Toronto, Ontario, CAN
• LCM (50m)
• Prelims/Finals Format
• Event Page
• Meet Packet

2024 Canadian Open Psych Sheets

The psych sheets for the 2024 Canadian Open, held at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, have dropped. This year’s Open will feature most of Canada’s biggest names in swimming including Summer McIntosh, who is slated to swim seven events, including all four 100s on top of the 200 free/IM plus the 50 free.

Order of Events

• Wednesday, April 10
  • M&W 200 freestyle
  • M&W 100 backstroke
  • M&W 200 butterfly
  • W 1500 freestyle
  • M 800 freestyle
  • Mixed 4×100 medley relay
• Thursday, April 11
  • M&W 100 freestyle
  • M&W 50 backstroke
  • M&W 100 breaststroke
  • M&W 400 individual medley
  • M&W 50 butterfly
  • M&W 4×200 freestyle relay
• Friday, April 12
  • M&W 400 freestyle
  • M&W 100 butterfly
  • M&W 50 breaststroke
  • M&W 200 backstroke
  • M&W 4×100 freestyle relay
• Saturday, April 13
  • M&W 200 individual medley
  • M&W 50 freestyle
  • M&W 200 breaststroke
  • W 800 freestyle
  • M 1500 freestyle
  • M&W 4×100 medley relay

Women’s Highlights

Summer McIntosh, still attached with the US-based Sarasota Sharks team, is seeded first in the 200 free (1:54.13) and 200 IM (2:07.16). The rest of her lineup is rather unusual for her mid-distance speciality, but she is the #2 seed in the 50 free (25.54), 100 fly (57.86), 100 back (59.64), and 100 free (54.39). London Aquatic’s Maggie MacNeil, who like McIntosh trains on the Gulf Coast in the US, holds the top seeds in the 50 free (24.79) and 100 fly (56.54).

Montreal’s Mary-Sophie Harvey is the fastest 100 free seed at 54.26, as well as #2 seed in both the 200 free and 200 IM, plus third seed in the 100 fly as she builds on what has been a turning-point season for her.

In the 100 free, MacNeil is also seeded third at 54.58. Olympic gold medalist Penny Oleksiak of Toronto is seeded fourth in the event at 55.01, her highest seed of all her entered events. In the 50 free, behind MacNeil and McIntosh are tied #3 seeds Bermuda’s Emma Harvey and Etobicoke’s Delia Lloyd (25.70). At the same time, double Worlds bronze medalist Cascade’s Ingrid Wilm leads the 100 back at 58.80. Many more head-to-head matches are to come featuring the aforementioned swimmers.

In the 100 back, behind Wilm and McIntosh, MacNeil looms in 22nd with a short course time of 56.79, converting to 57.99 using the Speedo Swim Time Converter. Wilm also leads the 50 back seeds at 27.37, by over a second ahead of the closest seeds Lloyd (28.46) and Emma Harvey (28.75). In the 200 back, Lloyd is slated as top seed at 2:11.75 while Emma Harvey is the top 50 fly seed (27.09). On the other hand, the all-around HPC Ontario’s Ella Jansen peers in 17th with a short course time of 2:07.53 (estimated convert, 2:09.93), giving Lloyd some potential pressure from both women. Wilm chose not to swim the 200 back next week.

The 200 breast top three seeds all come in with sub-2:30s, where they separated themselves from the rest of the field by over three seconds. Manitoba Bisons’ Kelsey Wog (2:24.27) has also a three-second lead over Markham’s Tessa Cieplucha (2:27.52) and HPC Ontario’s Sophie Angus (2:27.71). As Calgary’s Alexanne Lepage enters this meet with the top seed of 1:06.58, she will certainly be chased by the likes of the nation’s top breaststroke threats Angus (1:06.66) and Wog (1:07.35). The versatile McIntosh is also spotted in seventh at 1:10.39, right behind breaststroke ace Cieplucha (1:10.23). Western’s Shona Branton faces a similar pressure leading the 50 breast at 30.75, with Angus right behind her at 30.86.

McIntosh decided not to contest in the 400 IM, giving Jansen the top seed at 4:37.25, which is nearly four seconds ahead of Markham teammates Mabel Zavaros (4:42.27) and Cieplucha (4:42.81). Another “regular” event McIntosh will not be swimming is the 400 free, again giving Jansen the top seed at 4:07.18, over three seconds ahead of Zavaros (4:10.96). McIntosh is also not entered in a signature event of hers, the 200 fly, opening the door for current top seed Zavaros (2:11.71).

Notably, another 2024 double Worlds medalist, Sydney Pickrem, will not be racing in Toronto. At Doha Worlds, Pickrem picked up silver in the 200 IM and bronze in the 200 breast.

Men’s Highlights

For the men, it will be a title hunt for Ajax’s Javier Acevedo. He is entered in six events, three of which he is the top seed. Acevedo sweeps the 100 free (48.50), 200 free (1:47.72), and 50 back (24.90) top entry times. Meanwhile, he has a potential fourth event he could win, the 100 back, if he can take over top seed Saskatoon Goldfins’ Blake Tierney (53.65). Just as Acevedo and many other elite names coming to Toronto, Tierney is set to swim against multiple different competitive fields

In the 50 free, Cascade’s Yuri Kisil comes in as the top seed at 22.35, a mere 0.07s ahead of LSU’s Jere Hribar (22.42). Acevedo comes in fourth in the 50 free at 22.83 while Tierney is humbly seen in 11th (23.30). While Acevedo is #11 seed in the 200 IM, Kisil is also #2 seed in the 100 free (49.42) as is Tierney the 4th seed (50.21). Scarborough’s Finlay Knox is another familiar name in the 50 free, sitting in sixth at 23.13.

Knox, recently crowned 200 IM World champion, will not be swimming that event in Toronto. Instead, Knox comes in with a huge lead for the 100 fly top seed at 52.04, tenths behind the Olympic qualification time of 51.67. He’s also seeded second in the 200 free at 1:48.17, tenths off of Acevedo’s top seed. Knox is also #2 seed in the 100 breast at 1:01.29, a meager tenths behind Kenora Sharks’ Gabe Mastromatteo (1:00.96). Cut the distance in half, Mastromatteo still leads the 50 breast at 27.53, nearly a full second ahead of #3 seed Knox (28.18).

Royal City’s Tristan Jankovics takes the top seed in the 400 IM at 4:17.40, also by over five-plus seconds ahead of #2 seed Fredericton Aquanaut’s Jacob Gallant (4:22.53). Knox can also be seen in 12th with a short course time of 4:07.09, which roughly converts to 4:13.49. That easily puts Knox capable ahead of Jankovics’ entry time. Jankovics is also seeded second in the 200 back at 1:59.11, within striking distance of top seed UBC Thunderbirds’ Hugh McNeill (1:57.73). Tierney is also spotted in fifth at 2:00.28.

Both Canadian 400 IM representatives in Doha, finalist Lorne Wigginton and 10th-place finisher Collyn Gagne, will not be present in the Toronto 400 IM coming up. Instead for HPC Ontario’s Wigginton, he will be in the 400 free, where he’s the lone sub-3:50 top time at 3:49.05, over four seconds ahead of Markham’s Alexander Axon (3:53.68). Gagne, on a different note, is the 200 IM top seed at 2:00.62, with Jankovics (2:00.63) and Tierney (2:01.43) trailing closely behind. Axon, however, comes as both the 800 free (8:03.05) and 1500 free (15:31.58) by comfortable margins.

More 2024 Canadian Open Top Seeds:

• Women’s 1500 free- Laila Oravsky, Barrie Trojan (16:45.11)
• Men’s 50 fly- Stephen Calkins, Calgary (24.21)
• Men’s 200 fly- Benjamin Loewen, CREST (1:57.98)
• Men’s 200 breast- Jordan Willis, SwimMAC Carolina (2:12.07)
• Women’s 800 free- Megan Willar, Pointe-Clare (8:46.55)