The form chart always indicated Island swimmers would be dominant on the Canadian team in open-water swimming at the 2019 FINA world aquatics championships in South Korea, 2019 Lima Pan Am Games and, eventually, 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
The depth of that talent was on display Saturday at the Canadian open-water trials held at Governors Beach in the Grand Cayman Islands.
Jon McKay of Victoria scored an upset win in the men鈥檚 10K over his more-established UVic/Pacific Swim Club teammate Eric Hedlin. It is McKay鈥檚 first time on the Canadian team for the FINA worlds and a major Games such as Pan Am or Commonwealth.
Hau-Li Fan of the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds was just 1.4 seconds behind McKay to win the second and final spot on the Canadian team to the FINA worlds, while Hedlin was third.
鈥淚 knew Eric and Hau-Li have a lot of back-end speed. I just wanted to make sure that I got out ahead and had a good finish there, which I was able to do,鈥� McKay said in a statement.
鈥淚 was definitely like, 500 more metres, I would have been toast. They were gunning me down and I was just trying to do it for the lads.鈥�
Hedlin, the 2013 FINA world silver medallist in 5K, will swim that event at the 2019 worlds. But 10K is the Olympic sport and the 2019 world championships are the first qualifier, with that chance going to McKay and Fan.
The surprises continued when unheralded 17-year-old Chantel Jeffrey of the High Performance Centre-Victoria was second in the women鈥檚 10K trials to advance to the FINA world championships behind winner Kate Sanderson of Toronto. Jeffrey, an Island Swim Club performer, will join McKay as a first-timer on the national team.
The women鈥檚 result shunted UVic/Pacific Swim Club veteran and three-time Olympian Stephanie Horner to third place as she finished 3.9 seconds behind Jeffrey.
鈥淚t鈥檚 awesome, it鈥檚 everything I could have asked for,鈥� Jeffrey said.
鈥淚 felt really strong and we started to pick up pace, but it wasn鈥檛 too fast. We weren鈥檛 sprinting. By the last, about four buoys, I just kind of picked up pace. I could see the other girls beside me. On the last one, I just kind of bolted it. I knew I had the speed.鈥�
She certainly did have that, to add to the already formidable local strength in the event.
The Island鈥檚 history in open water includes Richard Weinberger鈥檚 10K bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
