Swimming Canada – TORONTO – Shelby Newkirk kicked the 2019 Canadian Swimming Trials off with a world record as the five-day meet got underway Wednesday in Toronto.

Newkirk’s time of 1:19.99 lowered her own all-time best in the women’s 100-m backstroke S7 event. She enters tonight’s multi-class final as top seed in the Paralympic program event.

“To be able to break it in prelims is really exciting,” the Saskatoon Laser swimmer said. “I think it was a good race and all the technical things I’m working on came into play. I’m excited to see what will happen tonight.”

Meanwhile, Quebec City’s Nicolas-Guy Turbide was the top qualifier (1:00.77) in the men’s event.

On the Olympic program side, Kylie Masse moved through the 100-m backstroke prelims in first at 58.19. Five women went under the A standard needed to qualify for the FINA World Championships, but Kayla Sanchez of the High Performance Centre – Ontario (personal best 59.82) scratched out of the final, leaving Jade Hannah of High Performance Centre – Victoria (59.92) as the second seed ahead of HPC-ONT’s Taylor Ruck (1:00.09).

Finals are set for 6 p.m. at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. The top two finishers under the A standard in each Olympic event can earn selection to Team Canada for this summer’s FINA World Championships in Gwangju, Korea.

Other top seeds advancing to tonight’s finals were Markus Thormeyer (53.83) in the 100-m backstroke, Sydney Pickrem (2:26.06) and James Dergousoff (personal best 2:12.57) in the 200-m breaststroke, Haley Black (personal best 26.77) and Will Pisani in the 50-m butterfly (personal best 23.85).

Swimming Canada’s flagship domestic event runs through Sunday with preliminary heats at 9:30 a.m. each day, and finals set for 6 p.m. Tickets are available at the door and are just $5 for preliminary sessions, $10 for finals. A full meet pass is available for $60, and children under 10 will be admitted free of charge.

In addition to coveted Team Canada spots at the FINA World Championships and World Para Swimming Championships, athletes will also be selected for the Pan American Games, Parapan American Games, FISU Summer Universiade and FINA World Junior Championships.

A total of 627 athletes (346 female, 281 male) are in action representing 157 clubs. That includes international competitors from 21 countries: Algeria, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Italy, Kenya, Latvia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States.

Live results available here: https://results.swimming.ca/2019_Canadian_Swimming_Trials/

Webcast and full meet info here: https://www.swimming.ca/en/events-results/events/2019-canadian-swimming-trials/