Call it Speedos across the Pacific. From Saanich Commonwealth Place to Gwangju, South Korea, it appears there will be good Island representation on the Canadian swimming and diving teams at the FINA world aquatics championships July 12-28. The 2019 worlds are a key signpost to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The Canadian swimming trials for the world championships are taking place at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.
Jeremy Bagshaw from Victoria won the men鈥檚 400-metre freestyle in 3:50.96. Mackenzie Padington from Campbell River via Victoria captured the women鈥檚 400 freestyle in 4:08.82 and Danielle Hanus, named Friday as University of Victoria female athlete of the year, won the women鈥檚 50-metre backstroke in 28.03 seconds.
Faith Knelson of Ladysmith via Victoria took the women鈥檚 50-metre breaststroke in 31.02.
Nicholas Bennett of Qualicum Beach won the Paralympic men鈥檚 multi-class 200-metre freestyle.
One of the shocks of the trials was 15-year-old Emma O鈥機roinin, from Edmonton, taking silver behind Padington in the women鈥檚 400 freestyle in 4:09.11, becoming the youngest member of the Canadian team for the worlds.
鈥淚 am so proud of her [O鈥機roinin],鈥� said Claremont Secondary graduate Padington, who swims in the NCAA Big Ten for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 see kids her age go under 4:10. She has so much potential. It鈥檚 amazing.鈥�
Padington moved as a teenager from her Campbell River Killer Whales Club to train at the High Performance Centre 鈥� Victoria. Padington also won the women鈥檚 1,500 metres at the trials, an event that makes its Olympic debut at Tokyo.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a really new race for me,鈥� the Islander said.
鈥淚 still have a lot of learning to do in it. I definitely think it can be a race I excel in. I can carry speed and I think that will work in this race [the 1,500].鈥�
Padington is also favoured Sunday in the women鈥檚 800-metre freestyle.
The top-two finishers clocking under the 鈥楢鈥� standard in each event earn spots on the Canadian team for the worlds.
DIVING: Celina Toth of Victoria Boardworks, who topped her semifinal group, goes for gold Sunday in the women鈥檚 10-metre at the sa国际传媒 Cup FINA Grand Prix diving event in Calgary. Toth, a two-time World University Games medallist, is the defending national 10-metre champion and 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games finalist.
The finals began Saturday with Olympians Jennifer Abel and Pamela Ware winning gold and bronze, respectively, for sa国际传媒 in the women鈥檚 three-metre.
sa国际传媒鈥檚 Philippe Gagne and Francois Imbeau-Dulac captured gold in men鈥檚 three-metre synchronized.
Three-time Olympic medallist Meaghan Benfeito and Nathan Zsombor-Murray of sa国际传媒 took silver in mixed 10-metre synchronized. Benfeito later captured gold for sa国际传媒 in the women鈥檚 10-metre synchronized with Caeli McKay.
