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August 15, 2011
After taking eighth place in the morning preliminaries, Dominique Massie-Martel of Ottawa, David Hibberd of Calgary, Colin Miazga of Saskatoon and Kyle Troskott of Lethbridge, Alta., improved to sixth in the final of the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay following disqualifications by Japan and Russia. The Canucks touched the wall in 3:20.99.
The USA (3:15.84), Brazil (3:17.30) and France (3:18.78) won gold, silver and bronze, respectively.
“The guys swam really well,” said Blondal. “This morning, they each shaved off a second from their personal best, and tonight they again went a little faster as a group.”
In individual events, Sandrine Mainville of Boucherville, Que., barely missed a spot in the evening session in the women’s 100 free. She was ninth in 56.15 seconds, 16 hundredths of a second slower than the eighth-place finisher.
Seanna Mitchell of Manotick, Ont., was also in the race and finished 20th in 56.97.
“Sandrine came really close. She had a very strong race and again, in past years, such a swim would have been good enough for a top-eight finish,” Blondal said.
Hanna Pierse of Edmonton also came close to an appearance in the final as she placed 10th in the women’s 200 individual medley thanks to a time of 2:17.30. Paige Schultz of Toronto was 15th in 2:18.12.
Still on the women’s side, Cassie Morrice of Victoria (4:18.75) and Julianne Brown of North Vancouver (4:22.66) were 13th and 20th, respectively, in the 400 free.
In a very fast men’s 50 butterfly field, Mike Smerek of St. Catharines, Ont., placed 15th in 24.65, while Troskott finished four spots behind in 24.84.
In the men’s 100 backstroke, Matthew Swanston of Newmarket, Ont., a finalist on 200 back on Sunday, was 23rd in 56.58. David Sharpe of Halifax finished in 27th position with a time of 57.27.
Finally, in the men’s 800 free, Michael Zoldos of Newmarket and David Dimitrov of Milton, Ont., were 18th and 23rd with respective times of 8:14.53 and 8:24.74.
The Universiade swimming competition resumes on Tuesday with finals in the men’s 100 breaststroke, men’s 100 free, women’s 200 breast, women’s 200 free, women’s 400 IM, men’s 50 back, as well as the men’s 4x200 freestyle relay.
Summer Universiade swimming (Aug 15): Strong showing for Canadian relay
SHENZHEN, China (CIS) – Despite qualifying for only one final, the Canadian team had a number of good performances Monday on Day 2 of the swimming competition at the 26th Summer Universiade.
“I thought we had a couple of good swims,” said
Team Canada and University of Calgary head coach Mike Blondal.
“This is a very, very fast meet. It’s much deeper than
in recent years. Maybe because the world championships were also in
China just a few weeks ago. One thing is for sure, this has become
a world class meet.”
After taking eighth place in the morning preliminaries, Dominique Massie-Martel of Ottawa, David Hibberd of Calgary, Colin Miazga of Saskatoon and Kyle Troskott of Lethbridge, Alta., improved to sixth in the final of the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay following disqualifications by Japan and Russia. The Canucks touched the wall in 3:20.99.
The USA (3:15.84), Brazil (3:17.30) and France (3:18.78) won gold, silver and bronze, respectively.
“The guys swam really well,” said Blondal. “This morning, they each shaved off a second from their personal best, and tonight they again went a little faster as a group.”
In individual events, Sandrine Mainville of Boucherville, Que., barely missed a spot in the evening session in the women’s 100 free. She was ninth in 56.15 seconds, 16 hundredths of a second slower than the eighth-place finisher.
Seanna Mitchell of Manotick, Ont., was also in the race and finished 20th in 56.97.
“Sandrine came really close. She had a very strong race and again, in past years, such a swim would have been good enough for a top-eight finish,” Blondal said.
Hanna Pierse of Edmonton also came close to an appearance in the final as she placed 10th in the women’s 200 individual medley thanks to a time of 2:17.30. Paige Schultz of Toronto was 15th in 2:18.12.
Still on the women’s side, Cassie Morrice of Victoria (4:18.75) and Julianne Brown of North Vancouver (4:22.66) were 13th and 20th, respectively, in the 400 free.
In a very fast men’s 50 butterfly field, Mike Smerek of St. Catharines, Ont., placed 15th in 24.65, while Troskott finished four spots behind in 24.84.
In the men’s 100 backstroke, Matthew Swanston of Newmarket, Ont., a finalist on 200 back on Sunday, was 23rd in 56.58. David Sharpe of Halifax finished in 27th position with a time of 57.27.
Finally, in the men’s 800 free, Michael Zoldos of Newmarket and David Dimitrov of Milton, Ont., were 18th and 23rd with respective times of 8:14.53 and 8:24.74.
The Universiade swimming competition resumes on Tuesday with finals in the men’s 100 breaststroke, men’s 100 free, women’s 200 breast, women’s 200 free, women’s 400 IM, men’s 50 back, as well as the men’s 4x200 freestyle relay.
