Caldwell adds to medal collection
GLASGOW, Scotland – Canadian swimmers keep winning medals at the Commonwealth Games, as Hilary Caldwell claimed bronze in the women’s 200-metre backstroke Sunday.
The 23-year-old from the Swimming Canada High Performance Centre – Victoria touched the wall third in 2:08.55. It’s the second major international medal in her collection, joining her bronze in the same event at last year’s FINA World Championships in Barcelona, where she swam a Canadian record of 2:06.80.
“It wasn’t quite where I wanted to be, obviously a little bit off my best but it’s always nice to be on the podium so I’ll take that for now,” Caldwell said.
Australia’s Belinda Hocking set a Commonwealth Games record of 2:07.24 for the gold, while fellow Australian Emily Seebohm just out-touched Caldwell at 2:08.51.
“I knew it was going to be pretty quick,” Caldwell said. “Those Aussie girls are always fast and it’s never great to be out-touched for any medal. I was just off the silver and a little bit off the gold today but I’ve got another chance in a couple weeks at (Pan Pacific Championships in Gold Coast, Australia) so we’ll see how it goes there racing the Aussie girls again.”
There were three Canadian women in the final, as Genevieve Cantin finished seventh at 2:10.91, followed by Sinead Russell at 2:12.61.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old Yuri Kisil of Calgary continued his improvement in the 100-m freestyle.
“Kisil the Missile” swam his second personal best of the meet. His time of 49.27 was good for fourth place, and less than a quarter second from breaking up the Australian sweep of James Magnussen (48.11), Cameron McEvoy (48.34) and Tommaso D’Orsogna (49.04).
“I did easy speed for the first 25 and then started kicking it into high gear for the second 25 and the last 50,” Kisil said. “I thought I found a good compensation there and just trying to swim my best in the final with all the cheering and everything.”Canada is still looking for its first medal on the Para side, as Aurelie Rivard of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., just missed the hardware in the women’s 100-m breaststroke S9.
Rivard swam her second personal best of the day (1:22.30) but had to settle for fourth. Katarina Roxon of St. John’s, N.L., was fifth at 1:23.95, also a lifetime best.
“It was really a good race, I’m really happy with it,” Rivard said. “Breaststroke is probably my weakest stroke of the four. I haven’t swam it much in the last two years so I’ve really been working on it.”
The 18-year-old, one of the stars of last year’s IPC World Championships in Montreal, is now focusing her medal hopes on Tuesday’s 200-m individual medley.
In the able-bodied women’s 200-m individual medley final Sunday, Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson of the High Performance Centre – Vancouver came fifth at 2:11.76, a personal best. Sydney Pickrem was eighth at 2:14.91.
Katerine Savard of Pont-Rouge, Que., came sixth in the women’s 50-m butterfly in 26.27, while Montreal’s Sandrine Mainville was eighth at 26.64.
Meanwhile, Calgary’s Russell Wood finished seventh in the men’s 50-m backstroke with a personal best of 25.55.
Tera Van Beilen of the High Performance Centre – Vancouver was one of two Canadians to advance through the women’s 100-m breaststroke semifinals. The 21-year-old advanced to Monday’s final in fifth spot with a time of 1:08.11. Kierra Smith (sixth, 1:08.49) of Kelowna, B.C., will join her.
In other semifinal action, Montrealers Mainville (6th, 55.16), Victoria Poon (7th, 55.60) and Alyson Ackman (8th, 55.71) all advanced to Monday’s final of the women’s 100-m freestyle. Edmonton’s Richard Funk moved through to the men’s 50-m breaststroke final in eighth at 27.93.
