2025 Canadian Trials: Day 4 Prelims Live Recap ...Middle East

By Mark Wild on SwimSwam

2025 CANADIAN SWIMMING TRIALS

Day 4 Prelims Heat Sheet

With two World Record setting performances already under her belt this week, Summer McIntosh returns to the pool in the prelims of the 200 fly. McIntosh will be up against the supersuited World record tonight, but a tight battle is brewing behind her as both Ella Jansen and Mabel Zavaros will be looking to put themselves into a good position to dip under the qualifying standard tonight.

The Men’s 200 fly sees Olympic bronze medalist Ilya Kharun take to the blocks again. He’s already punched his ticket in the 100 fly and fell just short of the mark in the 50 free, but as the only Canadian under the standard, like McIntosh, it likely will be a race against the clock tonight.

From the 200 fly, we turn our attention to the 100 free events in which, especially in relays, the Canadians have performed quite well on the world stage. The retirement of Maggie MacNeil may lower their expectations, but Penny Oleksiak‘s strong swim in the 50 free earlier in the week may give hope. Mary-Sophie Harvey has been on fire all week and both are already seeded under the Qualification standard. Brooklyn Douthwright, Sara Fournier, Taylor Ruck, and Sienna Angove round out the top 6, and all are seeded under 55.

The men’s race sees Josh Liendo back in action as he looks to add a 3rd event to his schedule. Yuri Kisil and Finlay Knox round out the top three, and both are seeded under the Qualifying standard, so expect competition to be fierce tonight, should they advance as behind them the likes of Patrick Hussey, Stephen Calkins, Filip Senc-Samardzic and the recently returned to competition Ruslan Gaziev would love to be in the hunt for a relay spot.

The 50 breaststroke is an interesting event for both men and women. The men have not qualified an individual swimmer in either the 100 or 200, but the three medalists from both events, Justice Migneault, Oliver Dawson, and Apollo Hess, will give it another go. On the women’s side, Sophie Angus earned a spot in the 200 breast, while Alexanne Lepage booked a ticket last night in the 100, each would love to add another event but not only will they have to contend with Shona Branton, but with a qualification time faster than their seeds.

Para Women’s 100 Butterfly

The Women’s Para 100 fly was Jamie Cosgriffe, the S10 Canadian record holder, scored the most para points as her swim of 1:07.96 collected 976 points. Entered with a time 1:06.75, Cosgriffe will get another chance at her record tonight as she qualified through as the top seed ahead of Alyssa Smyth and Mathil Falardeau.

Para Men’s 100 Butterfly

An issue at the start caused heat 2 to take to water first, as heat 1 needed a reswim. Nicholas Bennett, the S14 Canadian national record holder, opened up his race in 27.46 and came home to touch in 58.61 to record 925 points. Like Cosgriffe, Bennett was a little off his record but will have a second chance tonight to chase his 57.84.

Women’s 200 Butterfly

Top 8

Mabel Zavaros opened in a 1:02.39 to lead the first of the circle seed heats by over two body lengths. Zavaros, who swam collegiately for the Florida Gators, stopped the clock in 2:12.14, closing in a 1:09.75 to take over as the fastest swimmer this morning.

Ella Jansen, the 2nd seed and the runner-up in the 400 free on night one, opened in  1:02.09 to lead the field by nearly a second as Katie Forrester wasn’t too far back at 1:03.18. Forrester, who finished 4th last summer at trials, tried to stay with Jansen but slowly slipped back as Jansen, who swims collegiately for the Tennessee Volunteers, won the heat in 2:11.05, 1.61 ahead of Forrester’s 2:12.66.

It was a controlled swim from the Olympic Champion Summer McIntosh as she won the final heat in a time of 2:08.80, the only swimmer with a prelims time under 2:11. Out in 1:00.87, McIntosh had already built a nearly two second lead on Clare Watson, who was in 2nd at 1:02.81. McIntosh closed in a 1:07.93 to easily secure lane 4 tonight, where based on her past performances she could be in line to break the 2:03 barrier and perhaps even rattle the World record of 2:01.81 set back in 2009.

Men’s 200 Butterfly 

Top 8

Adrian Cheung’s 2:04.32 from heat 4 was the time to beat as the circle-seeded heats took to the blocks. Jake Mason opened in 56.46, exactly half a second ahead of the #3 seed and 2nd fastest Canadian in the field, Benjamin Loewen. Mason kept Loewen at bay over the last 100 as he posted the first sub-2:00 minute time, stopping the clock in 1:59.96. His time, nearly a two-second drop from his seed of 2:01.93, was just over half a second faster than Loewen’s 2:00.56.

Austrian butterflier and Tennessee Volunteer Martin Espernberger had complete control of the penultimate heat. Out in 54.53, nearly three seconds ahead of Anton Semenyuk’s 57.46, Espernberger continued his pace as he stopped the clock in 1:55.44. Jordi Vilchez, who was 3rd at the 100, passed Semenyuk in the closing meters to take 2nd place in the heat in a time of 2:00.63, with Semenyuk .24 back in third.

Ilya Kharun was a little more controlled than Espernberger as he opened in 55.00 ahead of Bill Dongfang’s 56.41. Kharun, the Olympic bronze medalist and Canadian record holder looked very smooth on the back half and cruised into the wall with a 1:01.00 last 100 to stop the clock in 1:56.00, perhaps the easiest splits for a coach to calculate.

Dongfang couldn’t keep up with his early pacing and started to slip on the backhalf as he ultimately touched in 2:00.49. As Espernberger is a foreign national he is unable to advance into tonight’s final, so Minhyuk Park will be bumped up.

Women’s 100 Freestyle

Top 8

The first of the circle-seeded heats saw Brooklyn Douthwright open in 26.70 to lead out Sylvia Statkevicius, who was 26.79, with Madison Kryer not too far back in 3rd at 26.82. Douthwright, who swam collegiately at Tennesse, stopped the clock in 55.11 to take the win ahead of the fast-charging Sienna Angove, who was 4th at the 50 (27.08) but made up ground on all the swimmers ahead of her to touch second overall in 55.33. Statkevicius, who represents Lithuania internationally, finished in 3rd with a time of 55.87 ahead of Kryer’s 56.03.

Heat 6 saw the number 2 seed, Mary-Sophie Harvey no-show. Harvey has had a busy schedule this week, having won the 200 breast and 100 fly earlier in the week as well as placing 2nd in the 200 IM last night. Taking full advantage of her absence and the open water it provided was Taylor Ruck. The 5th seed overall, Ruck was out in a quick 26.26, a full second ahead of Ainsley McMurray’s 27.31. Ruck, who placed 4th in this event with a time of 54.47 last year, stopped the clock with a 54.80, winning by nearly a full body length as McMurray touched in 56.08, just ahead of Mia West’s 56.21.

Ella Jansen, who finished 2nd in the 200 prelims a few minutes ago, opted not to race this event this morning, leaving lane 6 open in the last heat. Penny Oleksiak, the top seed, opened up her 100 in 26.14, leading Delia Lloyd (26.54) and Sarah Fournier (26.61). Oleksiak was never fully able to put the competition away as Fournier made things appear close at the end, but the Canadian record holder got her hand onto the wall in 54.25, to tie the Qualifying standard, with Fournier joining her under 55 at 54.88.

Men’s 100 Freestyle 

Top 8

Gibson Black, who was entered with a short course meter time, held the top of the leaderboard up to the start of the circle-seeded heats with his result of 50.40, but saw in surpassed in heat 6 as the top 24 seeds started to make their presence known.

200 IM winner Finlay Knox was the top seed in the heat but it was the young rising star Laon Kim who hit the halfway point first as he opened in 23.72, .17 ahead of Knox. The two were the only swimmers out in under 24, and looked to be locked in battle on the last 50, but the 6th seed Patrick Hussey, used a strong backhalf to split the pair at the finish as he finished in 2nd place with a time of 49.76, .12 back of Knox’s winning time of 49.64 and .14 ahead of Kim’s 49.90. The trio, the only swimmers so far under 50.00 sit atop the leaderboard with two heats remaining.

Yuri Kisil wasn’t waiting around as he opened up the race is a quick 23.43 ahead of the 23.72 by Ali Sayed, who represents Qatar internationally. Three other swimmers led by ASU’s Filip Senc-Samardzic were also under 24, and the quintet all were close to the finish as five swimmers all finished under 50.00. Getting the touch in the end was Antoine Sauve, whose strong backhalf moved him up from 5th at the turn to 1st at the finish as he recorded a time of 49.09, .15 ahead of Kisil’s 49.24.

The last heat saw Josh Liendo looking to secure the middle lane tonight but it was not to be. The Florida Gator had a strong first 25 meters, but both Paul Dardis and Ruslan Gaziev flipped in front of him at the 50, going 23.62 and 23.76 to Liendo’s 23.86. Liendo had the best turn staying under the longest. Still, like in the prelims of the 50 yesterday, Gaziev got the better of the Olympic 100 fly silver medalist as he touched in 48.79, the only swimmer under 49, with Liendo nearly a full second back at 49.70, which sneaks into the final as the 6th seed.

Ethan Ekk and Laon Kim tied at 10th with a time of 49.90, but with two swimmers ahead of them not eligible for the A-final, the pair sit in 8th and likely will need to swim-off for the last spot tonight.

Women’s 50 Breaststroke

Top 8

Much like in the men’s 200 fly, the prelims winner of the women’s 50 breast is ineligible for the final. Anita Bottazzo, who trains with the Florida Gators and represents Italy internationally, took the final heat in 30.91 to post the fastest time of the morning but will forced into the B-final. Taking her spot as the top seed in the A-final is Sophie Angus. Angus was the only other swimmer under 31.00 as she touched the wall in 30.95, while slower than her seed time of 30.86, Angus who qualified for Singapore in the 2oo breaststroke was faster this morning than she was to win the event two years ago, when she went 31.13.

Shona Branton, who is still in the hunt for a ticket to Singapore, will take lane 5 tonight as the second fastest Canadian this morning. Branton was 31.14 this morning but has a seed time of 30.86, which sits just .09 off the standard, so if she can put everything together, that ticket could be within grasp.

While a little further back, Alexanne LePage, as the highest-seeded Canadian entering the meet, could be the favorite tonight. LePage won the 100 breaststroke last night, equalling the qualifying standard, and her seed time of 30.82 is just .07 away, but her 31.53 this morning was not the most convincing of signs.

Men’s 50 Breaststroke

Top 8

Both the 100 and 200 breaststroke finals medals were split between the same three swimmers: Oliver Dawson, Apollo Hess, and Justice Migneault. Dawson had the best 50 of the three as he was 28.81 to place 2nd among Canadians. Aleksas Savickas, who trains with Bottazzo at Florida posted the 2nd fastest time of the morning at 27.99.

Behind Dawson was Hess, whose 28.32 clocks him in as the 3rd seed. Of the three, Migneault struggled the most with the fast pace of the 50 as he added nearly a full second to his seed time as he stopped the clock in 28.74. The University of British Columbia-based swimmer was the highest-ranked Canadian in the entry lists, with his seed of 27.87, but that honor, at least until the end of tonight’s final, falls to Noah Chang.

Chang, the 10th seed entering the prelims, sliced nearly a full second off his time as he went from 28.84 to 27.96, claiming lane 4 tonight. His time is still a far cry from the World Aquatics standard of 27.33 but it maybe showing an emergence of youth for Canada in the event.

Para Women’s 50 Freestyle

Para Men’s 50 Freestyle

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