MONTREAL – Olivia Anderson won women’s 800-metre freestyle on Sunday for her second gold medal of the Canadian Swimming Championships, burnishing her high hopes for the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships.
The 16-year-old prevailed in eight minutes 47.07 seconds, slightly faster than her time when she finished fifth at the Team Canada Trials in Toronto in April.. Anderson shared the podium at Pointe-Claire Aquatic Centre with two other teens, Oakville Aquatic Club’s 16-year-old Tessa Cieplucha (8:50.00) and Edmonton Keyano Swim Club’s Sophia Saroukian (8:51.20), who is 17.
Anderson also won women’s 1,500-m freestyle on Thursday, but was bent on adding a gold at a distance that’s contested at the Olympics.
“I was really excited to be able to pull that off at the end of two weeks away from home,” said Anderson, who also had a 400-800-1500 freestyle trifecta at the recent Canadian Age Group Championships. “The swims that I’ve had had here have also made me excited for junior worlds. I wasn’t super-excited about some of the times that I put down this weekend but I think I’m ready to go to junior worlds and swim fast. Hopefully, I can represent Canada well.
“I definitely have certain times in mind. If I can get to those times that will put me in a really good spot in the competition and for next year, going into an Olympic year.”
The Etobicoke Swimming Club athlete had a 31.23-second closing split and had only three 50-metre splits above 33.5. Anderson related that she’s benefited from training with Canadian record holder Brittany MacLean, who made an Olympic freestyle final in 2012.
“It’s been incredible training alongside Brittany, the fastest that the country has to offer,” Anderson added. “She’s awesome. She’s so great to train with. I’ve learned so much from her, just being around her for a couple months.”
The world junior championships are set for Aug. 25-30 in Singapore.
Luke Reilly and Erica Seltenreich-Hodgson, who each competed at the Pan Am Games in July, completed individual medley sweeps with 200-m IM victories. Reilly made his move in the breaststroke leg and clocked 2:01.61 to prevail over David Riley (2:03.54) from Toronto Swim Club.
“This is the last meet of my season going into the Olympic year,” said Reilly, a 19-year-old UBC Dolphin Association competitor. “So it’s a really good note to end upon, I was able to work on a lot of things and improve things that I have been working on all year. It was a really good experience that showed that my training has paid off.”
Reilly noted that he experimented with his strategy for the 200 IM and still obtained a satisfactory outcome.
“Usually in my IM, I back-half it,” he said. “My strength is usually my freestyle. Tonight I wanted to go out hard and see if I can hang on and I did. It’s not just the meet that matters, but how you use the meet, This is a great meet to be able to go and do that.”
Seltenreich-Hodgson, of the Greater Ottawa Kingfish, won women’s 200-m IM in 2:12.90. Kylie Masse of LaSalle, Ont., earned silver.
Eric Hedlin won men’s 1,500-m freestyle gold in 15:13.25, more than 15 seconds ahead of Keyano’s Kier Maitland. Hedlin’s Island Swimming Club teammate, 18-year-old Peter Brothers, collected bronze in 15:37.01.
Jacomie Strydom of Edmonton won women’s 200-m butterfly decisively, clocking at 2:13.57. The 19-year-old from Olympian Swim Club, who is a student-athlete at the University of British Columbia, won by more than second over 16-year-old Camille Wishaupt (2:14.72) of France and second-fastest Canadian Sophie Marois (2:15.32).
Oakville Aquatic Club’s Gamal Assaad was the fastest Canadian in men’s 200-m butterfly at 2:01.20. Ireland’s Brendan Hyland (2:00.01) and French teenager Matthias Marsau (2:00.86) finished first and second.
Alex Loginov of Toronto Swim Club triumphed in men’s 50-m freestyle in an impressive 22.62 seconds, shading Christopher Manning of by seven-hundredths of a second. Manning (22.69) and teammate Cameron Kidd (22.69) furnished a 2-3 finish for the Brantford, Ont.-based W. Ross Macdonald Swimming Club.
Montreal Aquatic Club’s Arianne Mainville topped an all-Quebec podium in women’s 50-m freestyle, winning gold in 25.50 seconds. Mainville, 21, was tailed closely by silver medallist Caroline Lapierre-Lemire (25.72) from host Pointe-Claire Swim Club and bronze medallist Sarah Fournier (25.97) of Quebec Regional Swimming Club.
Female and Male Stroke of the Meet Awards
Female Sprint Freestyle Award: Ariane Mainville, Club aquatique Montreal
Male Sprint Freestyle Award: Alex Loginov,
Female Distance Freestyle Award: Olivia Anderson, Etobicoke Swimming
Male Distance Freestyle Award: Eric Hedlin, Island Swimming Club
Female Backstroke Award: Kylie Masse, Windsor Essex Swim Team
Male Backstroke Award: Adam Best, Edmonton Keyano Swim Club
Female Breaststroke Award: Kelsey Wog, University of Manitoba Bisons
Male Breaststroke Award: Jason Block, University of Calgary Swim Club
Female Butterfly Award: Penny Oleksiak, Toronto Swim Club
Male Butterfly Award: Cameron Kidd, W. Ross MacDonald Swimming
Female Individual Medley Award: Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson, Greater Ottawa Kingfish
Male Individual Medley Award: Luke Reilly, UBC Dolphin Association
Female and Male High Point Aggregate
Women’s High Points Award: Kelsey Wog, University of Manitoba Bisons
Men’s High Points Award: Jason Block, University of Calgary Swim Club
Team Championship Banners
Women’s Team Champions: Oakville Aquatic Club
Men’s Team Champions: UBC Dolphin Association
Team Champions: Oakville Aquatic Club
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Swimming news courtesy of Swimming Canada.