Summer Universiade swimming (Aug. 17): van Beilen claims silver in 50 breast

Photo credit Freestyle Photography

SHENZHEN, China (CIS) – Canada earned its first medal of the 26th Summer Universiade at the swimming pool on Wednesday night at the Natatorium of Universiade Sports Center. Tera van Beilen of Oakville, Ont., swam to a second-place finish in the women’s 50m breaststroke in a time of 31.45 seconds.

“Last night, I was so close with a fourth place, it made me want a medal even more today,” said van Beilen, referring to her near miss in the 200 breast. “I was really happy with my performance as it was my best time in the event, especially my finish, because I’ve struggle with the timing of my finish lately.”

The UBC student-athlete set back-to-back personal bests on Wednesday, having clocked a 31.64 in the morning preliminaries. She still has the 100 breast coming up Friday on the last day of the swim competition.

Ann Chandler (31.13) from USA held off van Beilien for the gold, while Vaentina Artemeva of Russia took the bronze in a time of 31.74.

Canada took part in two other finals on Wednesday.

Dominique Bouchard of North Bay, Ont., placed eighth in the women’s 100m backstroke in a time of 1:01.74. Shiho Sakai of Japan won gold (1:00.28), Jennifer Connolly of the USA (1:00.50) was second and Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus (1:00.91) finished third.

The women’s 4x200m freestyle relay consisting of Lindsay Delmar of Calgary, Heather MacLean of Etobicoke, Ont., Cassie Morrice of Victoria and Paige Schultz of Toronto finished in fifth place (8:07.22) in a race won by the USA (7:55.02).

“Today is a better day than yesterday. We got a medal and might have had another if Dominique does not slip off the block,” said Team Canada and University of Calgary head coach Mike Blondal. “We had good performances with the relay and Tera’s swim was great and made up for the miss last night. We still have medal chances over the next days to finish the Universiade.”

Also of note today, Steven Bielby (2:04.59) and Tim Ruse (2:04.85), both of Pointe-Claire, Que., set personal bests in the preliminaries of the men’s 200m individual medley.

Here are the complete Team Canada swimming results for Wednesday.

CANADA’S SWIMMING RESULTS : WEDNESDAY

Heats women’s 50m breaststroke
2. Tera van Beilen Oakville, Ont., 31.64, advances to final; 17. Allison Long, Calgary, Alta., 32.58, does not advance.

Heats women’s 100m butterfly
12. Caroline Kuczynski, Montreal, Que., 1:01.35, does not advance; 21. Seanna Mitchell, Manotick, Ont., 1:02.50, does not advance.

Heats men’s 100m butterfly
22. Zack Chetrat, Oakville, Ont., 54.68, does not advance; 31. Mike Smerek, St. Catharines, Ont., 55.42, does not advance.

Heats men’s 400m freestyle
20. Michael Zoldos, Newmarket, Ont., 4:00.54, does not advance; 23. David Dimitrov, Milton, Ont., 4:05.73, does not advance.

Heats women’s 100m backstroke
5. Dominique Bouchard, North Bay, Ont., 1:01.71, advances to final; 10. Hilary Caldwell, London, Ont., 1:02.00, does not advance.

Heats men’s 200m individual medley
13. Steven Bielby, Pointe-Claire, Que., 2 :04.59, does not advance; 15. Time Ruse, Pointe-Claire, Que., does not advance.

Heats women’s 4x200m freestyle
5. Canada (Lindsay Delmar, Calgary, Alta., Heather MacLean, Etobicoke, Ont., Cassie Morrice, Victoria, B.C., Paige Schultz, Toronto, Ont.), 8:09.67, advances to final.

Final women’s 50m breaststroke
1. Ann Chandler, USA, 31.13; 2. Tera van Beilen, Oakville, Ont., 31.45; 3. Valentina Artemeva, Russia, 31.74.
 
Final women’s 100m backstroke
1. Shiho Sakai, Japan, 1:00.28; 2. Jennifer Connolly, USA, 1:00.50; 3. Aliaksandra Herasimenia, Belarus, 1:00.91; 8. Dominique Bouchard, North Bay, Ont., 1:01.74.

Final women’s 4x200m freestyle
1. USA, 7:55.02; 2. New Zealand, 7:59.60; 3. China, 7:59.62; 5. Canada (Lindsay Delmar, Calgary, Alta., Heather MacLean, Etobicoke, Ont., Cassie Morrice, Victoria, B.C., Paige Schultz, Toronto, Ont.), 8:07.22.