KNOXVILLE, Tennessee – Finlay Knox of Okotoks, Alta., continues to make a name for himself, this time in his namesake city.
The High Performance Centre – Ontario swimmer, who turned 22 last week, won the men’s 200-m individual medley at the Pro Swim Series Knoxville in a time of 1:59.27. Knox led the field for the entirety of the race after going out in 25.22 to the first turn.
American Kieran Smith placed second in 1:59.85 followed by Trenton Julian in 2:00.08.
Following his win in the 200-m individual medley, Knox won his B-final in the men’s 50-m breaststroke in a personal best time of 28.48.
It was a busy meet for Knox, who competed in a double Friday, placing fourth in the men’s 50-m butterfly in 24.09 and 13th in the men’s 100-m backstroke in 56.20.
For Knox, the Pro Swim Series has provided a good opportunity to get some long-course race experience in as he prepares for the Bell Canadian Swimming Trials March 28-April 2 in Toronto.
“This meet is obviously in early January so I came into it thinking about executing racing,” Knox said. “There’s no real strategy right now. I’m just going in and racing as hard as I can and then building off of that heading into Trials.”
Ilya Kharun placed sixth in 2:03.31, followed by Justice Migneault of the High Performance Centre – Vancouver seventh in 2:05.84. Brayden Taivassalo of the High Performance Centre – Ontario placed 18th in 2:08.25.
Tessa Cieplucha of Georgetown, Ont. placed third in the women’s 200-m individual medley in 2:15.12.
Cieplucha also finished seventh in the 200-m breaststroke in 2:31.94 and ninth in the 200-m butterfly in 2:15.61 Friday night.
Kylie Masse of La Salle, Ont., completed her sweep of the backstroke events with another win in the 200-m backstroke. Masse, who set a Pro Swim Series record earlier in the week in the 50-m backstroke in 27.38, won in 2:08.97 ahead of American Macky Hodges’s 2:14.45.
Masse won the 100-m backstroke in 59.43.
Overall, she was happy with how her meet went.
“I’m really pleased with the wins,” Masse said. “It’s nice to get that in at the beginning of the season swimming long-course and using this as a kick off for the rest of the season leading into Trials.”
Also in the 200-m backstroke, Maya Bezanson of HPC-Ontario placed eighth in 2:18.68.
In the women’s 50-m breaststroke, Sophie Angus of HPC-Ontario placed third in 31.72. Eloise Allen of Vancouver finished fifth in 32.26.
On Friday, Angus placed third in the 200-m breaststroke in a personal best time of 2:30.68.
On the men’s side, James Dergousoff of HPC-Vancouver placed seventh in the 50-m breaststroke in 28.74. Migneault finished 10th in 28.52 and Taivassalo 13th in 29.24.
Taivassalo and Dergousoff also raced in the 200-m breaststroke, finishing fifth in 2:16.04 and ninth in 2:17.87. Taivassalo’s time was a three-second drop from his previous personal best time set in prelims earlier Friday morning.
In the women’s 100-m freestyle, Elan Daley of HPC-Toronto won the B-final in 55.83. Ella Jansen of Burlington, Ont. finished 11th in 56.21 and Emma O’Croinin of HPC-Vancouver 13th in 56.43.
Jansen placed third in the 200-m butterfly in 2:12.62 the night before. Danielle Hanus of HPC-Vancouver touched in 10th in 2:16.67 and Victoria Raymond of Etobicoke, Ont. 12th in 2:18.44.
Kharun also finished ninth in the men’s 200-m butterfly in 1:59.49.
To wrap up the meet on Saturday night, Javier Acevedo of HPC-Ontario touched third in the men’s 100-m freestyle in 49.56.
In a close finish, Stephen Calkins of Calgary touched sixth in 49.72. Blake Tierney and James LeBuke of HPC-Vancouver placed 17th in 50.42 and 20th in 51.07.
Acevedo, who also placed fifth in the 100-m backstroke on Friday in 55.17, is happy to be “getting to where [he] needs to be at this point of the season.”
Other results include Daley twelfth in the 50-m freestyle in 26.00, Calkins and LeBuke 10th and 13th in the 50-m freestyle in 22.79 and 23.28, Hanus 16th in the 100-m backstroke in 1:03.17, Tierney 11th in the 100-m backstroke in 56.05, Kathryn Hazle eighth in the 200-m breaststroke in 2:33.06, Jansen seventh in the 400-m freestyle in 4:14.49, O’Croinin 10th in 4:15.82 and Bezanson 13th in 4:18.04 and Raben Dommann of HPC-Vancouver 13th in the 1500-m freestyle in 16:25.34.
Full Results: http://www.swmeets.com/Realtime/Pro Series/2023/Knoxville/
Nathan White
Senior Manager, Communications
Gestionnaire supérieur des communications
Swimming Canada Natation