Katerine Savard Breaks Canadian 50 Fly Record at Quebec Cup

At the Quebec Cup in Montreal today, Canadian butterflier Katerine Savard broke the 50 fly national record during prelims.

QuebecCup: AM heat: New national record for K.Savard on 50 fly 25'92)@SwimmingCanada @coach_rushton @swimswamnews pic.twitter.com/oFb9X80stT

— Greg Arkhurst (@Greg76kk) June 25, 2016

Her time of 25.92 is just a single hundredth faster than 15-year-old Penny Oleksiak‘s record from a couple weeks ago at the Mare Nostrum stop in Canet, France.

Oleksiak swam a 25.97 in May to break the World Junior record, and then swam a 25.93 in June. Both swims broke Canadian records.

Savard and Oleksiak have going back-and-forth with this record of late– Savard initially held it with a 26.05 from the 2013 World University Games, but Oleksiak swam a 26.03 and a 25.97 at the Charlotte Pro Swim Series to claim it for herself. She then swam the 25.93 in Canet, and now Savard has claimed it for herself once more with a 25.92.

Oleksiak also took down Savard’s 100 fly record at Canadian Olympic Trials, winning the event in 56.99 to beat Savard’s mark by almost three tenths. Noemie Thomas beat Savard to the wall in that race, and as a result Savard missed out on the Olympic team in that event (though she’s qualified as a swimmer on the 4×200 free relay).

Canada‘s young swimmers, especially Oleksiak, are really making a name for themselves. What better year to do that than an Olympic year? Savard, a big name for the Canadians who’s been around before the new wave of talent up north, is being pushed even faster by these youngsters, which is an exciting dynamic for the growth of swimming in Canada.