B.C. swimmer just misses silver
Hilary Caldwell gets bronze in 200-metre backstroke after photo finish at wall
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND— Canadian Hilary Caldwell was a fraction of a second from climbing one step higher on the podium at the Commonwealth Games.
The Victoria swimmer had the lead halfway through Sunday’s final of the women’s 200-metre backstroke, only to be passed by two Australian competitors — including one right at the wall — and wind up with bronze. Caldwell finished 1.27 seconds back of Belinda Hocking for first place, but was just 0.04 seconds off Emily Seebohm’s silver-medal time of two minutes, 8.51 seconds.
“I knew it was going to be pretty quick. Those Aussie girls are always fast,” said Caldwell. “It’s never great to be out-touched (at the wall) for any medal. I was just off the silver and a little bit off the gold.”
Caldwell was fastest in qualifying and swam even faster in the final, but wasn’t able to hold off Hocking or Seebohm over the final100 metres in a race that saw Genevieve Cantin of Lac Beauport, Que., finish seventh and Sinead Russell of Burlington, Ont., wind up eighth.
“Belinda is always a back-halfer,” said Caldwell.
“That’s definitely her strong suit, the back end of the race. I struggled a bit with being sick a bit on and off this year, so maybe my fitness isn’t quite where it needs to be.”
Still, the 23-year-old collected Canada’s fifth medal at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre through four days of competition.
Meanwhile, Remi Pelletier-Roy of Longueuil, Que., added bronze for Canada in the men’s 20-kilometre scratch race — the country’s first of the Games in cycling.
The 24-year-old finished third behind New Zealand’s Shane Archbold and Australia’s Glenn O’Shea at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.
“The track program came here with big goals and I think getting a medal was the very least we were hoping for,” said Pelletier-Roy. “Getting to the last race, it was our last chance to do it so I’m pretty happy to put that on the board for us as a program and for myself.”
After four days in Scotland, Canada sits tied for sixth in the medal standings with 18: seven gold, three silver and eight bronze.
Katerine Savard of Pont-Rouge, Que., wasn’t able to add to the tally or match her gold-medal performance from the women’s 100-metre butterfly in the 50-metre fly, finishing sixth.
Elsewhere at the Games, Lanni Marchant, from London, Ont., finished fourth in the women’s marathon, completing the two-loop course that wound around Glasgow in two hours, 31 minutes, 14 seconds. Mohammed Ahmed raced to fifth in the men’s 5,000 metres on the first day of track and field.
The 23-year-old from St. Catharines, Ont., ran 13 minutes, 18.88 sec- onds — a personal best and the thirdfastest time ever by a Canadian.
“Fifth, you know, I was really close but I gave everything I had. I just made tactical errors,” said Ahmed. “I am a bit disappointed, I really wanted to go out there and be right there with those guys, but I am a bit closer than I was last year and I have another race coming up on Friday (the 10,000 metres) and another Canadian there with me (Cam Levins) which will make it a little bit easier. So I am just going to go out there and have fun.”