Summer Universiade swimming (Aug 14): Canada short of podium on Day 1

Canada’s top results on the first day of action at the pool came from Matthew Swanston of Newmarket, Ont., who placed sixth in the men’s 200-metre backstroke, and the women’s 4x100 freestyle relay, which bettered that performance a few moments later with a fifth-place finish in the final race of the night session.

Swanston created a buzz in the morning preliminaries when he posted the second fastest time, a “post full-body swimsuit” personal best 1:59.46, only 42 hundredths of a second slower than Cody Chitwood of the USA. The Stanford University student once again went under the two-minute mark in the final, touching the wall 1:59.54, but saw his rivals pick up the pace significantly including a spectacular 1:56.01 effort by gold medallist Ryosuke Irie of Japan.

Rexford Tullius of the USA took silver in 1:58.66, while New Zealand’s Gareth Kean claimed bronze in 1:58.74. Chitwood fell all the way down to fourth place with a time of 1:59.48.

“I would have loved to reach the podium of course, considering I was second after the preliminaries, but I can’t be disappointed with a personal best and back-to-back races under two minutes,” said Swanston, a veteran of the 2009 Universiade in Serbia, where he also finished sixth in the 200 back – in 2:00.42 - and helped Canada to a bronze medal in the 4x200 freestyle relay. “My third turn was messy, that was my one major mistake in the final.”

In the last event of the evening, Canada was hoping to at least match its performance from the 2009 Games, a bronze medal. Lead swimmer Marie-Pier Ratelle of Trois-Rivières, Que., and anchor Seanna Mitchell of Manotick, Ont., who were both part of the third-place foursome two years ago, this time teamed up with Heather MacLean of Etobicoke, Ont., and Sandrine Mainville of Boucherville, Que.

Ranked fifth after the preliminaries, the Canadians fell behind early in the final, dropping to sixth at both the 100 and 200-metre marks, and could never make up ground on their way to a time of 3:44.35. In a thrilling finish, Australia captured gold in 3:40.03, followed closely by the USA (3:40.19) and host China (3:40.29).

“I thought all in all, we did pretty well today,” said Canadian head coach Mike Blondal, who was also at the helm in 2009. “Matthew had two solid races but made a costly mistake on his third turn in the final. As for the girls, we knew they’d have to shave a good two seconds from their morning time and they didn’t quite make it.”

“As a team, it will be hard to match our seven medals from 2009,” added Blondal, whose University of Calgary Dinos are reigning CIS women and men’s champions. “The competition here is very tough. But we’re optimistic. Our relays are pretty strong.”

Nine other Canadian swimmers were in action on Sunday. Eight of them saw their day end following the morning’s prelims, while another took part in a time final in the evening.

Of the group, Zack Chetrat of Oakville, Ont., came closest to earning a spot in the final. The University of Toronto student finished 10^th in the men’s 200 butterfly thanks to a time of 1:59.00. His teammate Jonathan Gagné of Montreal settled for 35^th place in 2:06.98.

In the men’s 200 breaststroke, Richard Funk of Edmonton was 11^th in 2:15.07 and Jason Block of Calgary was 23^rd in 2:18.62.

In the men’s 200 backstroke, Adam Best of Ottawa finished 17^th in 2:01.97.

In the women’s 50 butterfly, Paige Schultz of Toronto placed 12^th in 27.70, while Caroline Kuczynski of Montreal followed in 19^th position in 28.21.

In the women’s 800 free, Zsofia Balazs of Toronto and Pamela Ruskys of Kingston, Ont., were 18^th and 19^th, respectively, with times of 8:59.70 and 9:00.73.

The swimming competition resumes on Monday with finals in the men’s 100 back, women’s 100 free, women’s 200 individual medley, women’s 400 free, men’s 50 fly, men’s 800 free, and men’s 4x100 free relay.        

NOTES: Contrary to most international swimming competitions, there are no semifinals or B finals at the Shenzhen Games. Swimmers advance to finals directly from the preliminaries.