Canadian Trials, Day 6 Prelims: Ilya Kharun Goes 23.16 Without Josh Liendo in 50 Fly
Ilya Kharun again threatened his new Canadian record from last month in the 50 butterfly, a race that went off at Bell Canadian Trials without Josh Liendo.
Kharun went 23.16 Thursday morning on the final day at Saanich Commonwealth Place. That brushes up against his 23.09 from the TYR Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale in May. It’s his fifth swim of 23.3 or lower this spring.
The surprise was that Liendo was absent. Liendo won the 50 free, was second to Kharun in the 100 fly by .09 seconds and finished a surprising fourth in the 100 free. Liendo was seeded fourth in 23.90.
Second in prelims was Finlay Knox at 23.57. Knox and Kharun are a long away ahead of third-place Eric Ginzburg.
Elsewhere in the final prelims session:
As expected, Summer McIntosh scratched the 200 freestyle after three world records and five Canadian marks in five days. Even without the Canadian record holder, the Canadians still managed four swimmers under two minutes. Mary-Sophie Harvey, bidding for a fourth individual event at the World Championships, led the way in 1:58.51. Harvey finished fourth in the event at the Olympics last summer in Paris.
Second was Ella Jansen, already on the team in the 400 free, in 1:58.75. Sylvia Statkevicius was third in 1:59.72, .21 ahead of Sienna Angove. The battle for fifth will include four swimmers in 2:00-point: Ella Cosgrove, Emma O’Croinin, Leah Tigert and Brooklyn Douthwright.
Laon Kim led what should be a ripper of a 200 free, with the first six seeds separated by .29 seconds. Kim led the way in 1:49.60. Jordi Vilchez was .09 back, then another .06 back to Ethan Ekk, fresh off his Canadian record in the 200 back. Patrick Hussey, Filip Senc-Samardzic and Tristan Jankovics were all in the 1:49.8s, of that group only Jankovics having sealed an individual Worlds swim. Cole Pratt and Lorne Wigginton followed in 1:50.2s, while 100 free runner-up Antoine Suave was ninth. (At least Knox scratched it to relieve some gridlock.)
All are chasing the auto qualifying standard of 1:46.70; Hussey entered with the top seed at 1:47.78.
Matea Gigovic is also chasing a first worlds berth. The teenager went 26.78 to grab the top seed in the 50 fly. She’s the top seed ahead of Taylor Ruck’s 26.96. The backstroke contingent is invading, with Kylie Masse third in 27.05 and Ingrid Wilm fourth in 27.08. The latter three have all made Worlds; Gigovic is aiming for 26.23 for the auto cut. Her best is 26.50, and the standard is quicker than her 50 free at Trials (26.32 in finals). Penny Oleksiak was among those who scratched.
In paraswimming, Tyson Jacob clipped 1.5 seconds off his Canadian S5 record in the 50 backstroke by going 45.23.
The meet concludes Thursday night with the men’s 800 free and the women’s 1,500 free. Eric Brown’s 8:03.04 is the top seed in the former by more than five seconds, though he’d need to see 7:48 to make the Worlds auto cut. Emma Finlin is the top seed in the 1,500, and her seed of 16:28.15 is within four seconds of the auto qualification standard.
