VICTORIA – Katerine Savard set a Canadian record in 100-m butterfly Friday at the Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria.
The Pont Rouge, Que., native blasted from the start and raced to gold at Saanich Commonwealth Place, lowering her national mark by 0.04 to 57.27.
“I felt really good in the water and it’s great to get a Canadian record this early in the season,” said Savard, who trains at CAMO in Montreal. “Every time I race I try to swim a best time. I’m excited about the racing for this summer and I hope to win some medals.”
Audrey Lacroix of the Club de natation des Piscines du Parc Olympique de Montreal was second in 58.69. Both Savard and Lacroix went under the qualifying standard for nomination to the Canadian teams for the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships this summer. Noemie Thomas of Richmond, B.C., missed the qualifying standard by just 0.02 at 59.20.
The trials serve as the selection meet for this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, and Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Gold Coast, Australia.
In the men’s 400-m freestyle, Cochrane clocked 3:47.30 seconds to win the race convincingly and all but secure his spot on those national teams.
“It’s good but not where I want to be,” said Cochrane, who trains at the Swimming Canada High Performance Centre – Victoria. ”But you always get a second chance in the summer and it should be really exciting.”
There was a surprise result in the women’s 200-m backstroke as Genevieve Cantin of Quebec City produced a powerful finish to win in a personal best 2:09.40. Sinead Russell of Simcoe, Ont., led most of the way and was second in 2:09.58 and world championship bronze medallist Hilary Caldwell of White Rock, B.C., was third in 2:10.11. All three went under the qualifying standard.
“I never expected that,” said Cantin, 23. “I knew the race was going to be close at the finish. I’m looking forward to working even harder for the competitions this summer.”
Two more swimmers went under the qualifying standard in the women’s 400-m freestyle with Canadian record holder Brittany MacLean of Etobicoke, Ont., earning the win in 4:06.20. Tabitha Baumann of Edmonton Keyano, the daughter of Canadian swimming legend Alex Baumann, also made the cut clocking 4:10.68.
National team veteran Savannah King of the High Performance Centre – Vancouver was third in 4:12.59, just 0.12 outside the qualifying time.
“I was hoping to go faster but I’m happy with the swim,” said MacLean, seventh in the event at the 2012 Olympics. “I know there’s lots of room for improvement. I wanted to take it out fast and hold on as best I could.”
Three swimmers collected their third victories to complete golden sweeps in their respective strokes. Tera Van Beilen of the High Performance Centre – Vancouver in the women’s 50-m breaststroke, Russell Wood of Calgary in the men’s 200-m backstroke and Richard Funk of Edmonton in the men’s 50-m breaststroke.
Coleman Allen of Vancouver was the winner in the men’s 100-m butterfly.