The Canada West and U Sports seasons are done and the titles are in the bag. Still, a number of UBC Thunderbird swimmers aren’t quite ready for the offseason just yet.
The 2017 Canadian Swimming Trials wrapped up this past weekend at the Saanich Commonwealth Pool near Victoria, and many ’Birds punched their ticket to different international championships and events that will take place over the course of the summer.
Both national teams have now been decided for the two major meets taking place in the summer, those being the FINA World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary from July 14 to 30 and the 2017 Summer Universiade in Taipei, Taiwan from August 19 to 30.
Freestyler Yuri “The Missile” Kisil and first-year standout Markus Thormeyer went 1-2 in the 100m freestyle final, with Kisil taking the first spot with a time of 48.90. Thormeyer finished closely behind at 49.13, just under the FINA “A” standard mark of 48.93. He will still attend the World Championships, as he swam well below the “A” standard many times earlier in the year.
Second-year freestyler Carson Olafson came third in the 100m freestyle behind Kisil and Thormeyer, clocking in at 50.28. The time may be over the “A” standard mark, but he will still join Kisil and Thormeyer on the 4x100m freestyle relay.
One of the more amazing moments from the meet came in the form of fourth-year Alex Loginov’s win in the 50m freestyle. Loginov finished under the “A” standard mark of 22.47 with a final time of 22.24, touching ahead of both Kisil and Thormeyer.
This will be Loginov’s first World Championships and joining him in breaking international ice will be fourth-year medley specialist Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson. She qualified in the 200m individual medley, one of her signature events, with a final time 2:10.97. The time is well under the “A” standard time of 2:13.41, and it earned her a silver behind Sydney Pickrem of the Island Swim Club in Victoria and the Texas A&M University Aggies, who set a new Canadian record of 2:09.56.
Thormeyer is the only swimmer who will attend both the World Championships in Budapest and the Universiade in Taipei. Joining him in Taipei is third-year medley swimmer Luke Reilly, who qualified for the second-largest multi-sport event in the world by clocking in at 4:18.14 in the final of the 400m individual medley. Reilly had previously represented Canada at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto where he came home with two medals.
With five swimmers heading off to international competitions, the other ’Birds will look forward to taking some time to rest in the offseason before preparing for the Canadian Senior National Championships in August and then the start of the 2017/18 U Sports season.