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Suspense Rises with the Hope of Another Medal for Canada

Jul 26, 2014  - Sanne Huesken

A new crowd, new events and fresh swimmers make for a very exciting day 3 here at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.   

Canada, with swimmers in every event this morning, was especially well represented in the women’s 200m Breaststroke. Kierra Smith surprised all by swimming the fastest time at 2:25.19, qualifying first for the finals this evening. “Going in I knew that if my training came together as it should and if I raced as well as I could today that I would probably go 2:25, just like for my splits this morning in warm-up.” Martha McCabe, swimming in the heat before Smith, won her race and placed third for the finals with a time of 2:27.45. Tera van Beilen, who swam the 50m Breastroke last night, missed a spot in the finals by just 0.07 seconds, finishing ninth at 2:28.40.   

 Van Beilen, who was nervous going into the race, hoping for a spot in the finals, has a maple leaf tattoo on her toe. It’s the last thing she sees before she leaves the block, reminding her of her pride in her country and why she swims. “I got my tattoo a year before the Olympic trials, so I kind of used it as motivation to make the Olympic team the following year. I look at it every time I dive and it’s kind of a little fun thing.” Let’s hope the maple leaf does not let her down for the Women’s 100m Breaststroke on Sunday.   

 Katerine Savard, who’s bag will be a little heavier going home carrying yesterday’s gold medal for the 100m Butterfly, swam the 50m Butterfly this morning, together with  Sandrine Mainville and Michelle Williams. Savard won the heat with a time of 26.33, awarding her with the third position for the semi-finals tonight. “I came back late last night at the Athlete’s Village so I’m a little bit surprised about my time this morning. It’s really good and I’m going to race tonight and tomorrow night so I’m excited to see what I can do.” Mainville placed eighth at 26.46 while Williams took the twelfth position at 27.02. The ladies do it again; all three swimmers will advance to the semi-finals. 

 Evan White and Gamal Evans swam the first event of the day; the Men’s 200m Butterfly. White and Evans placed 12th and 13th, with times of 2:00.96 and 2:02.60, unfortunately missing a spot in the finals. Russell Wood, who swam the 100m Backstroke and 4x100m Freestyle Relay yesterday, was back in the water for the Men’s 50m Backstroke. He placed eighth with a time of 25.75 and so will advance to the semi-finals tonight. Yuri Kisil competed in the Men’s 100m Freestyle and placed seventh at 49.85, and so he too will advance to semi-finals. 

 At 11:59 on the dot, the women’s 4x200m Freestyle relay teams were called to the starting blocks, with Samantha Cheverton, Brittany MacLean, Alyson Ackman, and Emily Overholt representing Canada. As the girls walked out the camera dropped down a little; they might be the smallest team out there, but they are fast! Canada won the heat, more than five meters ahead of South Africa who were second to touch, at a time of 8:10.45. They advance in fourth position, confident about the finals tonight. “I think we all have a lot of room to drop and our takeovers were really safe, so tonight we’re still going to be safe but a little bit more risky than we were this morning and see if we can get our hand on the wall for a medal,” said Brittany MacLean, who had a lot of fun swimming the relay and felt very relaxed. 

 Will Canada win another medal for the third straight night? We are left in suspense.