GLASGOW, Scotland - It will be another busy evening in the pool for Canada as 17 Canadians moved on to tonight’s finals and semifinals at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
They will join four others who qualified Saturday as Canada looks to win a swimming medal for the fourth straight day.
Hilary Caldwell of the Swimming Canada High Performance Centre – Victoria was fastest in the morning’s 200-metre backstroke heats. The 2013 FINA World Championships bronze medallist qualified for the final with a time of 2:09.47. She will be joined in tonight’s final by Genevieve Cantin (6th, 2:11.59) and Sinead Russell (7th, 2:12.78).
"I kind of got used to that pressure last year a bit. Last year I came in as a wild card and ended up doing really well so this year there is a little more pressure, a little more nervousness and expectation," said Caldwell, 23. "I want to compete [for medals] at the Olympics, so I have to get used to dealing with the pressure that comes with that at events like this."
Meanwhile, Katerine Savard of Montreal’s CAMO club will be looking for her second butterfly medal. The 21-year-old, who already has 100-m gold under her belt, enters the 50-m final with the third-fastest semifinal time (26.31).
Montreal’s Sandrine Mainville (7th, 26.48) will also be in action in that 50 fly final, and added the 100-m freestyle semifinal to her evening schedule. Mainville moved on in sixth with a time of 55.16. Fellow Montrealers Victoria Poon (7th, 55.60) and Alyson Ackman (55.77) will join her in those semifinals.
Canada will have two women in the 200-m individual medley final as well. Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson of the High Performance Centre – Vancouver advanced fifth at 2:14.55, while 17-year-old Sydney Pickrem will join her thanks to a heat swim of 2:14.95, good for eighth spot.
Two Canadian women will also represent on the Para-swimming side, with 100-m breaststroke S9 in the spotlight Sunday. Aurelie Rivard of Haut-Richelieu, Que., enters with the fourth-fastest heat time of 1:23.67, while Katarina Roxon of St. John’s, N.L., was sixth at 1:25.37.
Two Calgarians round out Canada’s finalists: Russell Wood enters seventh in the men’s 50-m backstroke at 25.29, while Yuri Kisil also sits seventh in the men’s 100-m freestyle at 49.53.
Others advancing Sunday included Brittany MacLean of Etobicoke, Ont.. The 20-year-old swam the women’s 800-m freestyle in 8:27.32 to advance to the final – which will be held Monday – in fourth position.
Advancing to Sunday semifinals were: Tera Van Beilen, Kierra Smith and Martha McCabe in women’s 100-m breaststroke; Coleman Allen, Evan White and Gamal Assaad in men’s 100-m butterfly; and Richard Funk in men’s 50-m breaststroke.
