Swimming World Cup | Finish the weekend with your favorite event

Katerine Savard and Mary-Sophie Harvey had a busy weekend at the World Cup of Swimming in Toronto, making four and six finals respectively.

The motivation was still there on Sunday as the two athletes competed in the finals of their favorite events.

Katerine Savard was the first in the water at the start of the evening for the 100m butterfly. The swimmer from Pont-Rouge almost ended up on the podium, but had to settle for fourth place in the event, just 0.27 seconds from a bronze medal.

“I was obviously aiming for a third place. It shows that I still have little things to work on. It was so close! I really enjoyed participating in the 100m butterfly. I wanted to do my best and I didn’t really have a target time, so that’s fine! said Savard in an interview with Sportcom.

The event was won by Maggie Mac Neil with a World Cup record (54.78s). The Ontarian was ahead of Sweden’s Louise Hansson (+0.24 seconds) and Brazil’s Giovanna Tomanik Diamante (+2.63 seconds).

Earlier in the day, Savard also took part in qualifying for the 100m freestyle where she finished 15^e rank, which was not enough to reach the final.

For her part, Mary-Sophie Harvey focused only on the 200m medley on Sunday. She qualified for an almost all-Canadian final. Seven of the eight participants were Maple Leaf representatives.

Harvey finished eighth in the final, trailing the winner by 7.50 seconds. Despite a result below her expectations, it was with a smile on her face that the Trifluvienne left the pool to take pictures with the many supporters present at the Pan Am Sports Center.

” It hurts ! she says, laughing. “I had fun in the race even though my time is really not where I would have liked. I take it as learning. I want to keep improving with each competition. »

“It’s amazing to have seven Canadians in the final,” Harvey said. It’s a good taste of the Canadian trials for the next Olympic Games. We had fun swimming together. »

American Beata Nelson, the only athlete who did not represent Canada in the final, played spoilsport by winning the gold medal ahead of Sydney Pickrem (+0.15 seconds) and Summer McIntosh (+1.49 seconds) .

A unique and special weekend

Katerine Savard and Mary-Sophie Harvey took full advantage of their experience on Canadian soil. In their first competition since the Commonwealth Games, at the beginning of August, the two athletes are satisfied with the work accomplished.

“It was a weekend that gave me a lot of confidence. I had few benchmarks before the competition because it had been a long time since I had competed and it is at times like these that doubts appear. There were a lot of positives during the weekend, like my medal in the 200m butterfly,” Savard first noticed.

“I didn’t want to put any pressure on myself because it had been a long time since I had swum on the international stage. The return was a bit difficult, I’m trying to find the good old Mary-Sophie from last year. It is by dint of swimming that I will find her and it is sure that weekends like this will help in this process, ”added Harvey.

It was also an opportunity for them to begin their preparation for the World Short Course Championships to be held in Melbourne, Australia, from December 13 to 19.

The fall will also be busy for Mary-Sophie Harvey, who will be heading to Indianapolis on Tuesday to participate in the next World Cup, which will take place from November 4 to 6.

“I will do seven events in Indianapolis. My goal will be to qualify for the finals each time and I would like to improve my times along the way. We are aiming for progress until the World Championships in December. My fall schedule is built around that,” she explained.

On the side of Katerine Savard, she will focus on training for the moment while a trip to Australia is planned in the coming weeks to familiarize herself with the level of competition there.

“I want to train with the Australian swimmers to get a new experience. I’m sure they can bring me a lot, especially in anticipation of the World Championships where I want to be at the top of my game”, concluded Savard.