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2024 Olympic and Paralympic Trials – Day 5
May 18, 2024
The 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Trials, Presented by Bell, at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre continued on Friday, May 17th as the meet entered day 5 of 7 days. The meet continues to add new records to the books and additional Olympic and Paralympic qualifiers.
In the Para 50m Backstroke event, national record holder Nikita Ens won the final in 1:11.60, while fellow S3 swimmer Aly Van Wyck-Smart finished a couple seconds behind in 1:13.64. Ens aims to break 1:10 again at the Paris Paralympics after placing 9th in Tokyo.
In the S4 50m backstroke event, Sebastian Massabie (Pacific Sea Wolves) set the Canadian record in the prelims with a 53.74, though he was slightly slower in the final at 55.32.
In the 100m Freestyle event, Canada’s most decorated Olympian Penny Oleksiak narrowly missed the Olympic ‘A’ cut by just .05 seconds with her victory in 53.66, but punched her ticket to her third Olympics on Canada’s 4×100 free relay thanks to her top-4 finish along with Mary-Sophie Harvey, Brooklyn Douthwright, and Taylor Ruck. Harvey dipped under 54 seconds for the first time.
Blake Tierney dropped more than two seconds to win the 200m Backstroke in 1:56.74, under both the Olympic ‘A’ cut and the Canadian record. Hugh McNeill (UBC) touched within a second of the ‘A’ cut in second, while Aiden Norman and Ethan Ekk tied for third.
In the 200m Breaststroke, Sydney Pickrem came from behind to edge out Kelsey Wog by just .01 seconds as both swimmers finished under the Olympic ‘A’ cut. Pickrem is headed to her third Olympics, while Wog will compete at her second.
Shima Taghavi broke her own 200m Breaststroke Canadian Record for the 11 – 12 women while swimming in the A Final at the meet.
Ilya Kharun qualified for his first Olympics by winning the 200m Butterfly in 1:54.41, ranking 3rd in the world this season. He aims to beat Leon Marchand and finish in the top 3 in Paris.
In the 200m IM Para events, Tess Routliffe crushed the Canadian SM7 record, while Danielle Dorris had a strong SM7 swim.
Nicholas Bennett also broke the Canadian and World records in the SM14 classification.
Swim BC results:
A Finals
Men’s Para 50 Back Gold Sebastian Massabie, PSW (55.32)
Women’s 100 Free 8th Danielle Hanus, RAPID/HPC VAN (55.44)
Men’s 200 Back SILVER Hugh McNeill, UBCT/LOSC (1:58.49)
Men’s 200 Back 5th Raben Dommann, HPC VAN (2:00.02)
Men’s 200 Back 9th Thomas Caruso, SPART/SFU (2:04.21)
Women’s 200 Breast 9th Shima Taghavi, HYACK (2:32.60)
Men’s 200 Fly 8th Bill Dongfang, ISC (2:00.60)
Men’s Para 200 IM 4th Fernando Lu, LOSC (2:20.30)
Junior Finals
Women’s 100 Free 6th Leilani Fack, LOSC (56.35)
Men’s 200 Back 7th Paul Orogo, LOSC (2:05.85)
Men’s 200 Back 8th David Maibaum, RAPID (2:07.19)
Women’s 200 Breast 2nd Danielle Barberie, NRST (2:33.58)
Women’s 200 Breast 6th Macey Larson, LOSC (2:37.47)
Men’s 200 Fly 1st Aiden Kirk, KAJ (2:02.61)
Men’s 200 Fly 2nd Tristan Govier, HST (2:03.33)
Men’s 200 Fly 4th Zachary McLeod, WDSC (2:04.27)
Men’s 200 Fly 7th Jihoon Bae, LOSC (2:06.25)