Santo Condorelli, Chantal Van Landeghem golden at U.S. Swim Series
Canada's top swimmers are fine tuning ahead of Rio Olympics
Canadian Olympic swim team nominees Chantal Van Landeghem, Kylie Masse and Santo Condorelli took home gold medals Saturday at the fifth stop on the U.S. Swim Series.
Condorelli, of Kenora, Ont., also earned a silver while Toronto's Penny Oleksiak, and Kierra Smith of Kelowna, B.C., finished second in their respective races.
Condorelli won the 50-metre butterfly in 23.82 seconds and was runner-up in the 50 freestyle in 22.15. Anthony Ervin of the United States won the race in 21.98.
In the women's 50 freestyle, Van Landeghem of Winnipeg clocked 24.43 seconds for the victory, just 0.05 seconds off her Canadian record set last year. Madison Kennedy of the U.S. was second in 24.53 and Farida Osman of Egypt third in 25.00. Michelle Williams of Toronto was fourth in 25.10.
"It's a great swim for right now," said Van Landeghem. "We're in heavy training and that time was faster than at trials. That's a good sign."
Masse, a Toronto native, notched her victory in the 100 backstroke in 59.98, edging Americans Kirsty Coventry (1:00.12) and Ali DeLoof (1:00.41). Dominique Bouchard of North Bay, Ont., was fourth in 1:01.00.
"Right now we are in preparation for the Games and we're trying to fix the little things," said Masse. "I'm concentrating in particular on my start and transition underwater."
The 15-year-old Oleksiak broke the world junior record and the Canadian senior record in the 50 butterfly in both the preliminaries and final. She clocked 26.03 in the morning and 25.97 in the evening to eclipse the national mark of 26.05 held by Katerine Savard of Pont-Rouge, Que., since 2013 and the world junior mark of 26.17 set by Rikako Ikee of Japan in 2015.
Four-time Olympic champion Dana Vollmer of the U.S. won the race in 25.87.
Smith took silver in the women's 200 breaststroke final in 2:25.06, just behind Anna Lazor of the U.S. (2:24.96).