Hayden and Cochrane show dominance in the pool

Press Release: SWIMMING

DELHI (October 8, 2010) Canadian swimmers Brent Hayden of Mission, BC and Ryan Cochrane of Victoria, BC showed strong character in the pool this morning at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, clocking the fastest times in their respective events.

Ryan Cochrane going for gold in the men's 1500 freestyle

Hayden showed great strength in the 50m freestyle, qualifying first in 22.25. The Commonwealth Games champion in the 100m freestyle clocked this season’s fastest time in the world last night.

"It's a great learning experience for me," said Hayden. "I had to let go of all the emotions of winning gold last night. The plan was to re-focus and get back to business." Richard Hortness of Medicine Hat also qualified for the 50m freestyle semi-finals.

Cochrane, Canada's first gold medallist at these Games, stuck to his game plan this morning, cruising to a 15:33.60 in the 1500m freestyle, ranking first for tomorrow's final.

"The race felt really good, and easy," said Cochrane. Alexa Komarnycky won her heat in the women's 400m freestyle against superstar Rebecca Adlington of England and Kylie Palmer of Australia. Komarnycky, who trains in Victoria, swam a fast 4:10.48, the second fastest going into tonight's final. Also advancing into finals from this morning's session are Genevieve Cantin of Quebec in the 200m backstroke and Tobias Oriwol of Toronto in the 200IM.

Tonight's final will also see 2010 Pan Pacific Championships bronze medallist, Victoria Poon (Montreal, QC), in the 50m freestyle, Commonwealth bronze medallist Stefan Hirniak (Victoria, BC) in the 100m butterfly, and Scott Dickens of Burlington, Ont., in the 50m breaststroke. On the women's side, Julia Wilkinson of Stratford, Ont. and Sinead Russell of Oakville, Ont. in the 50m back, and Annamay Pierse of Edmonton and Martha McCabe of Toronto in the 100m breaststroke. Finals start at 4 pm local time in Delhi.

Full results available at: http://results.cwgdelhi2010.org/en/Root.mvc/

Note: For HD Broadcast Flash interviews and B-Roll courtesy of Swimming Canada, log onto www.sendtonews.com.

Media Guide of the 2010 Commonwealth Games swim team is available at: www.swimming.ca/mediaguides.

For more information:

Martin Richard
Director of Communications
Swimming Canada
Media officer in Delhi
Email. mrichard@swimming.ca
Mob. (Delhi) + 917838503724