By Jim Morris

TORONTO – Brittany MacLean made a statement, Ryan Cochrane took care of business and Katerine Savard found some redemption at the Olympic and Para-swimming Trials, presented by RBC, Thursday night.

Ashton Baumann added to the night’s excitement by following in his father’s footsteps and earning himself a spot on the team heading to this summer’s Games in Rio. Cochrane’s win in the 400-m freestyle will send him to his third Olympics.

“This week is so emotional with all these people, their dreams coming true and their dreams not coming true,” said MacLean, who swam a Canadian record time of one minute, 56.94 seconds to win the women’s 200-metre freestyle. She now holds the records in the 200, 400, 800 and 1,500.

Fellow Torontonian Penny Oleksiak of the High Performance Centre – Ontario finished second in 1:57.59, also under the Olympic nomination standard of 1:58.96.

Savard, of Pont-Rouge, Que., was third in 1:58.17 while Toronto’s Kennedy Goss finished fourth in 1:58.26. Both swimmers qualify to swim the 4×200-m free relay in Rio.

An emotional Savard burst into tears after the race. Earlier this week she failed to qualify in the 100-metre butterfly.

“The toughest was to stay concentrating and tell myself I would live my sadness later,” said Savard. “I gave it all tonight and I am really happy.”

MacLean, who shaved .03 off the previous Canadian record set in 2009 by Genevieve Saumur, said the relay team has podium potential this summer.

“We swam a little bit of a statement swim,” said the 22-year-old, who already made the nomination standard in the 400-m free. “We’ve got a really good shot this summer of doing something special.”

MacLean said qualifying for two individual events “was crazy” but believes there’s room for improvement in her swimming.

“It didn’t feel the greatest and I know there are probably a lot of details I can change,” she said. “I am looking forward to going faster in the summer for sure.”

Oleksiak had also made a nomination standard earlier in the week, in the 100-m fly.

“We swam a little bit of a statement swim. We’ve got a really good shot this summer of doing something special.” – Brittany maclean

Cochrane heaved a sigh of relief after winning his race in 3:48.54, well under the nomination standard of 3:50.44.

“I think there was more stress than I anticipated,” said the two-time Olympic medallist, who won a 400-metre bronze at last year’s world championships.

“I had done the best training so I thought the times would show. It hasn’t happened yet. I under-estimated on the day how nervous I would get. You have to deal with the stress.”

Baumann, the son of double Olympic gold medallist Alex Baumann, won the men’s 200-m breaststroke in 2:10.69. That was .97 below the qualifying standards and nearly three seconds better than his previous personal best.

“I was really stressed,” said Baumann, who had struggled during his morning swim. “I’m glad this race wasn’t two days later because I haven’t been sleeping the last three or four nights.”

Alex Baumann swam at the 1984 Olympics. Sandy Goss, Kennedy Goss’s father, also won a silver at the 1984 Games.

Kierra Smith of Kelowna, B.C., and Rachel Nicol of Lethbridge, Alta., both made the nomination standard in the women’s 100-m breaststroke. Smith won in 1:06.93 while Nicol was second in 1:07.10.

Three Canadian records were broken in the Para-swimming events.

Aurelie Rivard of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., won the multi-class 200-m medley. The S10 swimmer was timed in 2:35.99.

Justine Morrier of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, tied for second in 2:43.26, breaking her own Canadian record.

Abi Tripp of Kingston finished sixth in 2:58.77, breaking the S8 record she set earlier in the day.

Gordie Michie of St. Thomas, Ont., won the multi-class men’s 200-medly in 2:17.80, breaking his own S14 record he set at last year’s world championships in Glasgow, Scotland.

“I love racing in front of a big crowd,” he said. “It really motivates me.”

Tammy Cunnington of Red Deer, Alta., won the S4 150-m medley in 3:36.85. Jonathan Dieleman of Quick, Alta., took the S4 men’s 150-m medley 3:21.27.

After three days, 14 swimmers (11 women, three men) have made the nomination standard for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The Para-swimmers who have met the nomination standard will be acknowledged on Sunday.

The trials, which end Sunday, have attracted 762 swimmers from 187 clubs cross Canada, the United States and other parts of the world. The competition is being held at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, the same pool that hosted last year’s Pan American and Parapan Am Games.

All finals sessions will be webcast live on CBCSports.ca beginning at 6:45 p.m. ET.  For full results and more information visit www.swimming.ca/trials.