10 Canadians head to the medal round on day one of Swimming in Glasgow

It was a terrific start for Canada in the pool today at Tollcross International Swimming Centre in Glasgow. In addition to many fast swims by the Canadians, a strong international field contributed to seeing four Games Records fall.

In the women’s 400 IM, Emily Overholt (4:39.52) Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson (4:41.77), and Marni Oldershaw (4:48.89) qualified for tonight’s final in 3rd, 5th, and 8th place respectively. Overholt’s swim was particularly impressive as she smashed her previous personal best of 4:42.03 by almost 2.5 seconds.

Ryan Cochrane made it clear that he is here in Glasgow to defend his 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medal in the 400m free. Cochrane’s time of 3:46.62 was good for 2nd overall and secures him an excellent lane in the final tonight. Will Brothers (3:54.89) put in a strong effort, but failed to advance, as he placed 14th in the 28- swimmer field. 

Brittany MacLean (1:57.75) and Samantha Cheverton (1:58.61) placed 5th and 7th overall and will both be back in the water tonight to compete in the women’s 200m freestyle final. Alyson Ackman finished 14th with a time of 1:59.86.

The women’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay cruised to an easy victory in their heat with a time of 3:41.40. The team of Victoria Poon, Sandrine Mainville, Alyson Ackman, and Michelle Williams qualified in 3rd overall and will be in the medal hunt tonight.

Tera van Beilen (31.31) finished 7th overall and advanced to the semi-final of women’s 50m breaststroke.

Coleman Allan (24.25) and Gamal Assaad (24.66) both booked their tickets to the semi-final in men’s 50m fly finishing 10th and 13th.

In the women’s 100m fly, top-ranked Katerine Savard (58.13) qualified 2nd overall, and the veteran Audrey Lacroix (59.14) joins her this evening in 9th position.

Russell Wood’s time of 54.83 was good enough for 7th place and earned him a spot in the men’s 100m-backstroke semi-final.

Another personal best was set in the pool when Richard Funk posted a time of 2:12.56. in the men’s 200m breast. His previous mark was 212.97 and his performance today left him in 10th place. Evan White (2:15.86) finished right behind his countryman close in 11th. Both swimmers will not advance to the semi-finals.

Session #2 gets underway tonight at 7:00pm local time where Canada will contend for medals in four different events.