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Canada Keeps Winning Streak Alive on Day 3 of the Games

Jul 26, 2014  - Sanne Huesken

Canada keeps the medal streak alive as Samantha Cheverton, Brittany MacLean, Alyson Ackman and Emily Overholt win silver in the Women’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay, at a time of 7:51.67. “It was so fun!” Alyson Ackman yelled as the team walked out of the pool, each with a silver medal around their neck. Canada touched in second after Australia, who set a new Games record at 7:49.90.

 

Canada’s silver swimmers smashed their earlier time during the heats in the morning by almost 19 seconds. “Did we really?” asked MacLean, as she realized just how much faster they swam in the finals tonight. “We performed exactly the way we wanted to. It was four strong swims and you don’t see that always in a relay, so it’s great for every single one of us to stand up and have a race that we’re happy with,” MacClean continued, proudly wearing the Canadian flag wrapped around her head.

 

The relay entered the final with the fourth-fastest heat time at 8:10.45, but managed to charge to silver, with Ackman and Overholt swimming new personal best times. “We all knew that we had that in us,” said Cheverton, 25. “I think when we saw we were right in the race in the thick of things that pumped us all up too. That just propelled us to go even faster and to fight a little bit.”

 

Victoria Poon of Montreal’s Piscines du Parc Olympique, swam in the second final of the evening; the women’s 50m freestyle. She finished sixth at 25.29. “I really wanted to go under 25. Hopefully that will happen at the Pan Pacs. Now I just have to get ready for the 100m freestyle tomorrow.”

 

Canada came close to winning a fifth medal in swimming yesterday as Kierra Smith tied for fourth in the women’s 200m breaststroke. “The thing I wanted most from this meet was a second swim so I was so happy to be there and I tried to enjoy it as much as I could,” said Smith, who swam a lifetime best 2:25.19 in the morning heats. “It gave me a lot of confidence to know that I can compete with the girls here and I could belong at a senior meet which is exciting for me.

 

“Now my goal is to make finals at (next month’s Pan Pacific Championships in Gold Coast, Australia) and hopefully get into the 2:24 zone. That’s definitely been a dream of mine for a while now so I think that would be a great way to end the summer,” the 20-year-old from Kelowna, B.C., added.

 

Martha McCabe, the 2011 World Championships bronze medalist, came sixth at 2:25.46. It was the best time this year for the 24-year-old Torontonian, who is still working her way back from a stress fracture in her clavicle that caused her to miss weeks of training.

 

Sinead Russell came sixth at 1:00.27 in the women’s 100m backstroke final, swimming alongside fellow Canadian, Brooklyn Snodgrass, who placed eighth in 1:00.58.  With a time of 1:00.75, Richard Funk came sixth in the men’s 100m breaststroke, wrapping up the individual finals for the evening.

 

In semifinal action, Montreal-based swimmers Katerine Savard and Sandrine Mainville will both advance to Sunday’s 50m butterfly final. Savard goes in as 3rd, with a time of 26.31, while Maiville placed 7th at 26.48. A very happy Russell Wood also moved on to the men’s 50m backstroke final, qualifying seventh at 25.29. “I had a really great start and just drove my stroke rate right down to the wall. It was a best time by four-tenths so that’s definitely what I’m looking for. I’m a contender with that time so I’m definitely looking forward to the final.”

 

On to day 4 to see if Canada can keep their winning streak going.