McIntosh, Knox break own national records at Canadian swimming trials in Victoria
Para swimmers Brayshaw, Bennett, Routliffe also post big wins
Summer McIntosh and Finlay Knox broke their own national records on the opening night of the Canadian swimming trials on Tuesday in Victoria, B.C.
The 15-year-old McIntosh, who made her Olympic debut in Tokyo last summer, won the women's 400-metre freestyle while setting a Canadian record with a time of 4:01.59. Katrina Bellio finished second (4:11.06), followed by Ella Jansen (4:11.15).
Knox touched the wall with a time of 1:57.50 to win the men's 200m individual medley. The 29-year-old from Okotoks, Alta., finished ahead of Collyn Gagne (2:00.37) and Benjamin Loewen (2:03.48), respectively.
Knox lowered the record he set at Olympic trials last June (1:58.07). He became the first Canadian to ever go under the 1:59 mark in the event last May in a time trial at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.
With the victories, McIntosh and Knox booked their tickets to the FINA world championships in June in Budapest, Hungary.
WATCH l McIntosh breaks own Canadian record in women's 400m freestyle:
Fellow Tokyo Olympians Kylie Masse and Sydney Pickrem also posted notable victories on Tuesday to qualify for the world championships.
Masse won the women's 100m backstroke (58.48), while Taylor Ruck came in second and also finished under the qualifying time in 59.67. Ingrid Wilm missed the cut by finishing third (59.75). Masse is an Olympic silver medallist and two-time world champion in the event.
Pickrem won the women's 200m individual medley (2:10.58), with Mary-Sophie Harvey also qualifying in second place (2:10.98). Tessa Cieplucha finished third (2:12.03)
WATCH l Knox lowers his national record in men's 200m IM:
Javier Acevedo won the men's 100m backstroke (54.37), finishing ahead of Blake Tierney (54.62) and Tayden De Pol (55.87), respectively.
Jeremy Bagshaw won the men's 400m freestyle (3:52.01), but like Acevedo was also over the world championship qualifying time.
In the Para events, Jacob Brayshaw kicked off the evening by winning the men's 50m breast multi-class in 2:00.01. Tess Routliffe won the women's 100m breast multi-class with a time of 1:33.80, while Nicholas Bennett won the men's 100m breast in 1:05.65.
All the action from the Canadian trials in Victoria will be streamed live on CBC Sports and can be watched with the free CBC Gem streaming service, at cbcsports.ca and through the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices.
The competition features more than 500 swimmers from 131 clubs across Canada. The trials will also determine the Canadian teams for the Commonwealth Games in July in Birmingham, England, and the world para swimming championships in June in Madeira, Portugal.
Canadian swimmers won six medals at the Tokyo Olympics, which was followed by a historic 15 medals at the short course world championships in December.