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Eli Wall and Kelsey Wog earn tickets to Tokyo on last night of Canadian Swimming Trials

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EDMONTON – They waited until the last night but Eli Wall and Kelsey Wog finally punched their tickets to Tokyo during Sunday’s final night of the 2018 Canadian Swimming Trials.

Wall, who trains with the Toronto Swim Club, out-battled James Guest to win the men’s 200-metre breaststroke in two minutes, 14.17 seconds. Wog, who swims for the University of Manitoba, had a personal best time at the right time to win the women’s 200-m breast in 2:23.83.

Both swimmers heaved a sigh of relief after their victories.

“It’s been a very long wait,” said Wall, who finished eighth in the 200-m breast at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in a personal best time of 2:11.47. “It’s not about the time right now. It’s about winning and moving on to Tokyo and getting around my best time there.”

Wog, who shaved about two seconds off her best time, said she didn’t feel any pressure prior to her swim.

“Pressure is what really gets to me and slows my confidence down,” said the Winnipeg native who won a 200-m breast silver medal at the 2016 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m). “I just (thought) go for it, you’ve worked really hard. Give it your all.”

Swimming Canada used the meet to select its pool teams for next month’s Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo and the Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships in Cairns, Australia. The winner of each Olympic event automatically qualified.

Both John Atkinson, Swimming Canada’s high performance director, and Wayne Lomas, associate high performance director and national Para-swimming coach, were impressed with what they saw over the course of the event.

“I think there has been some very fast swimming in Edmonton,” said Atkinson. “There is more to come.

“I think we’ve had solid swims from our known performers who can then get to Japan and do their final preparation and be ready to swim fast in Tokyo.”

Lomas was impressed to see Shelby Newkirk break her own world record in the S7 100-m backstroke plus several Canadian records fall.

“Any meet where you see world records broken is a fantastic swim meet,” said Lomas. “For the Para program, it’s wonderful to see both world and Canadian records broken.

“To see some of the newer ones coming through, that’s great to see.”

Ahmed El-Awadi, Swimming Canada’s chief executive officer, heaped praise on meet organizers and the city of Edmonton for hosting the event.

“Swimming Canada would like to thank the officials, volunteers and staff who made this event a great success,” said El-Awadi. “A special thanks to the City of Edmonton and Edmonton Keyano Swim Club for being an outstanding host. And of course, to the coaches and swimmers for their hard work and inspiring performances this week.

“Team Canada represents the highest performance level our Canadian swimming family has to offer, and we look forward to watching them compete in Tokyo and Cairns.”

More than 400 athletes from 105 clubs participated at the Kinsmen Sports Centre. Besides Canadian swimmers, athletes from France, Peru, Thailand, Singapore, Scotland and the U.S. also competed. Results and full meet information are available at: https://www.swimming.ca/en/events-results/events/2018-canadian-swimming-trials/.

A pair of Canadian Para-swimming records fell on the final day. Nicolas-Guy Turbide of Quebec City won the men’s multi-class 50-m freestyle in 25.40 seconds. That broke his own S13 record of 25.52 set at last year’s Rio Paralympics.

During the morning preliminaries Niki Ens, who swims with the Saskatoon Laser Swim Club, broke her Canadian record in the S3 50-m freestyle. Her time of 1:19.53 shaved over four seconds off the old mark.

Jeremy Bagshaw, who trains at the High Performance Centre – Victoria, showed his experience to win the men’s 800-m in 8:07.12.
Michael McGillivray, a 15-year-old from the Regina Dolphins Swim Team, leaped out to an early lead, setting a blistering pace, before Bagshaw was able to catch him.

“These are young, new fresh faces so I don’t know their race strategies,” said Bagshaw. “There was a little hesitation with me, but I think my experience paid off a little bit toward the end.”

Morgan Bird, of Calgary, won the Para-swimming multi-class women’s 50-m freestyle in 31.53 seconds.

Aurelie Rivard, of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., won the women’s multi-class 400-m freestyle in 4:39.96 while Philippe Vachon of Blainville, Que., won the men’s event in 4:41.32.