Lima Update Day 4

Big day for Canada and a big day for Island on Day 4.

Canada took 4 medals tonight at the Jr. Worlds. The evening started with Chantal Van Landegham taking another medal in the 50 meter fly. In a close and exciting race she tied for the bronze. Next on the block for Canada was Brittany MacLean in the 400 free. She took the race out right from the start and held the lead the whole way, taking down both the Aussies and the Americans. That really got the Canadian Team and fans going.

The surprise of the night came from Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson in the women's 200 IM. She was a somewhat unexpected finalist from the prelims in the morning. She took to the race with nothing to lose and had the swim of her life to take 2 seconds off from the morning swim and a Bronze medal. She blocked the Americans from the podium in one of their signature events. Ok this had the team revved for the next event.

The Island Boys with Alec Page and Keegan Zanatta teamed up with Omar Arafa from Etobicoke and Chad Bobrosky from Cascade in the men's 4 X 200 relay. Alec led off with a flat start 1:51 and had Canada in the mix right away. Keegan came in and held the position edging past the Americans but behind Poland, China and Italy. Omar took off like a rocket and we crept up to 3rd for Chad, the 200 meter men's gold medalist. Chad quickly over took both China and Italy. By 150 meters he took the lead from Poland. Canada ended up with it's 4th medal of the night and second gold. The whole team and parents on the other side were going nuts.

Canada now has 9 medals (3 gold) and is second in the medal count to the USA. We have 2 days to go and we have already surpassed any Canadian team at a World Championships by 4 medals. Things are looking good for the future of Canadian Swimming.

Tomorrow will see Alec in the 400 IM. He is ranked 5th and just recently became the new Canadian record holder in the boys 15-17 400 IM.

Alex Brothers

Lima Update - Day 2 & 3

Alec Page at the blocks and ready to race.

Day 2 and 3 in Lima had more success for Canada. On Day 2, Chad came through with a gold in the 200 Free. The race was once again very close and it had the stands on their feet. The team was jacked after Chad's race. We advanced swimmers into a number of finals and had a few close podium calls.

Day 3 saw Island's Alec Page and Keegan Zanatta swim the 800 free. Alec took the race out hard and was in 1st for the first 200 meters. In the end he had a great race as the top 6 were very close with Alec ending up 6th. Keegan was a little off his time finishing 13th overall. Canada ended the night with Chantal Van Landeghem winning a well deserved silver medal medal in the 100 free.

It's winter in Lima so the weather is not great. Cool and overcast which is normal for August.

Alex Brothers

Update from Jr. World Championships

Aaron's team


Keegan getting ready for his 400 free final


Canada's 4 x 100 free relay at the blocks (Alec Page swimming second)

We arrived in Lima, Peru early Saturday morning (like 3 am). Lima is a very interesting city where the Spanish roots date back to the 1600 Conquistadors. It is very crowded with a population of 10,000,000 in the city. Most of the population is very poor and the swimmers are seeing what 3rd World country is like first hand.

The Island boys settled in with their training group, the three boys from London and Oakville Ontario are Mack, Braydon and Matt. Coach Aaron has been training this group from day 1 and they all fit in well together.

Yesterday was the much anticipated start of the meet and the Canadians started off with a roar!! Canada put 8 swimmers through to finals or semis and 2 relay teams to finals. In the evening, the first event saw Chad Bobrosky and Keegan in the 400 free final. The race was close from start to finish with Chad just getting out touched by a Japanese swimmer for the gold medal. The women's 4 X 200 free then stepped up to grab Canada another Silver Medal.

The most exciting race was the 4 X 100 Free for men, Canada qualified 1st in the morning, just ahead of USA. The team had Luke Peddie, Alec Page, Omar Arafa and Chad Bobrosky for the evening final. By the time the second swimmers hit the water it was a tight race and the stands were rocking. By the 3rd swimmers, it was obvious that this was going to be between Canada and USA. On the last leg of the race, USA took off slightly ahead of Canada. Chad had pulled Canada within a few hundredths of a second with 50 to go but just couldn't manage to make the small gain needed to overtake the USA team and it came down to settling for silver on the touch. With that silver we have out medalled the Canadian performances from the two previous World Jr. Championships combined.

Tonight Canada has 4 swimmers in finals so we will be looking for Gold and more podiums.

Alex Brothers

We just ended the Montreal training camp and are on our way to Lima, Peru today. The team has been training well and the Island boys look good. The coaches say this is the best group of Juniors they have ever taken to an International meet. The psych sheets are out and the Canadians have 2 swimmers in the top 2 heats in each event. This will be the first real International meet for many of these kids. There are 64 countries and over 600 swimmers entered with all the swimming powerhouses including, USA, Australia, and all the European countries. It's been a long 2 weeks since Nationals and Age Groups. The boys and Aaron have been in Montreal for a month getting ready. Today is a long travel day to Lima, over 12 hours and we arrive at 1 am. I will update everyone on our arrival.

Alex Brothers

Not your typical boy!!

Well, I thought I was finished but I just had to post this photo...Pinches was getting ready to go to the pool. He also left this morning to travel by himself to the Caribbean, I hope he survives the trip! He might even make some money with that lunch kit, if he opens it up and begs a bit.