The day had started well, but it did not end the way hoped for Eric Brown. In action in the 10 kilometer open water race at the Fukuoka worlds on Sunday, the Montrealer finished 32e after a two-stroke race.
Brown was unapologetic in the first leg of the race in Hakata Bay, Japan. He swam among the leading group for just over five kilometers, even reaching 14e rank.
The Quebecer, however, lost his rhythm a little after halfway and he conceded several rungs to finish in 32e place in the final classification with a time of 1 h 55 min 31.2 s.
“I had started well and was able to maintain my place in the peloton, but I hit a wall in terms of energy. It hurt, it was difficult to move forward and it slowed me down a bit, ”explained the one who fell 4 min 50.9 s behind the winner, the German Florian Wellbrock.
The latter won the title of world champion thanks to a time of 1 h 50 min 40.3 s, ahead in order of the Hungarian Kristof Rasovszky (+18.7 seconds) and his compatriot from Germany Oliver Klemet ( +20.5 seconds).
British Columbian Eric Hedlin (+3 minutes 45.1 seconds), the only other Canadian in the running, finished 31e.
Sunday’s scenario is not unlike that of 2022 for Brown, who finished 26e in Budapest, Hungary, for his baptism of fire in the World Championships.
“It was almost like last year! Not quite what I wanted, but not bad either. I still have plenty of time to improve,” concluded the 20-year-old athlete.
Eric Brown will have several other opportunities to demonstrate his skills in Fukuoka. Barring a last-minute change, he will compete in the mixed 4x1500m open water relay on Thursday, before preparing for his three freestyle distance events scheduled in the pool next week.
A second international outing for Caeli McKay and her partner
Diving competitions continued on Sunday, as Caeli McKay reunited with teammate Kate Miller for the 10m synchro.
The Canadians first earned a fourth-place finish in qualifying, then turned to a tough final a few hours later. Execution errors, however, destroyed the tandem’s chances of a podium finish, which had to settle for eighth place with 279.93 points.
As has been the case since the start of diving activities, the athletes from China (369.84) dominated the session to be decorated with gold. The British (311.76) and Americans (294.42) followed in order in the standings.
“The goal was to take it one dive at a time and focus on what we could improve along the way. It didn’t necessarily go the way we wanted, but I think we learned a lot about us and our duo, ”analyzed Caeli McKay when he left the pool.
It was the second international competition for the maple leaf duo, which finished fifth in Montreal last May.
“We are going to work very hard in the next year and I am not worried about the future. We have good chemistry and I think we just need to practice together on a daily basis. The recurrence of our training will allow us to progress and raise our level, that’s for sure” concluded McKay, who will now turn his attention to the individual event on the platform.
Canadian polo players lost from the start
For its part, the national women’s water polo team began its tournament against Hungary, one of the main world powers in the discipline.
Down 5-3 in scoring after the first quarter, the Canadians battled hard to get back into the game. Coach David Paradelo’s squad managed to reduce the deficit to just one goal after half-time, but eventually lost 11-10.
Axelle Crevier (2), Élyse Lemay-Lavoie (2) and Serena Browne (2) found the back of the net in this game, as did Kindred Paul (2), Hayley McKelvey and Shae La Roche.
Quebecers Floranne Carroll, Daphne Guévremont and Clara Vulpisi are also part of the maple leaf team which will play its next duel on Tuesday, against New Zealand. Note that the men’s team will start their tournament on Monday, against China.
Finally, in artistic swimming, Laurianne Imbeau, Raphaëlle Plante and Florence Tremblay took part in the preliminaries of the mixed team technical event on Sunday.
The Canadian delegation received a score of 190.7666 for their performance. Sat 14e place in the classification was not sufficient to reach the final, where the top 12 will swim on Tuesday.