Elite swimmers tune up for Oly trials

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This article was published 20/03/2024 (625 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Western Canadian Swim Championships mean different things to different competitors.

To some, the event at Pan Am Pool this weekend is the premier meet on their calendar. To others, such as Kelsey Wog, it’s a prime opportunity to stay competition-ready as she strokes toward the Olympic trials in May.

Wog, competing at her first Western Canadians in seven years, headlines a contingent of 40 swimmers with ties to the host province. The championships begin Thursday and wrap up Sunday.

The former University of Manitoba Bisons standout is pushing toward a second trip to the Olympic Games, this time in Paris. She represented the Maple Leaf at the 2020 Tokyo Games, qualifying for the 200-metre breaststroke semifinal.

She will need to finish second or better and under the qualification standard at the trials to solidify a spot on Team Canada for the pcoming Summer Games.

“This year, it’s just about racing and executing my races how I want to, so the more often I can practice them at higher level meets, the better. I’m going to treat this meet as a great opportunity to practice executing what I’ve trained and to fine-tune how I want to prepare for my races in the day,” said Wog, who is studying to attain a master’s degree in microbiology (thesis-based) at the U of M.

“The last couple of months have been really tough in training — lots of volume, lots of intensity. I’m just kind of excited to see where I’m at. I’m not exactly sure where anything is going to fall and it’s hard to tell without much rest going into it, but I’m just excited to get out there and race.”

The 25-year-old has remained a sensation in the pool this season. In December, she set a Canadian record in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:04.22, besting a 15-year mark set by Annamay Pierse (1:04.28).

“I’m really happy with the progress of how things are going this year,” Wog said. “It wasn’t something I was specifically going for but it felt really amazing to go a best time in both the 100 and 200m breaststroke in short course for the first time in three years.

“Coming out of December and into training in January, I just wanted to continue that momentum and build through until Olympic trials in May.”

Wog will get one more tune-up ahead of the Olympic trials at the Canadian Open in Toronto from April 10-13.

She conceded that she’s “not super thrilled” about the way some things shook out during the qualification process for Tokyo in 2020. Though she wouldn’t reveal specific events that led to changing her mindset this time around, Wog said she’s seeing her lane through a clearer lens these days.

“I guess the theme for myself this year has been, ‘No regrets and do everything that I can,’ and I’m really happy with how I’ve been leading my life through that phrase,” she said. “I’ve definitely changed as a person and I think priorities throughout life have changed. Priorities changing in life have led me to live by that phrase this year.”

Carson Beggs will attend his second Olympic trials this year but will need to regain some confidence in the pool first.

That’s what this week represents for the 22-year-old. Beggs, in his fourth year with the Bisons, has re-tuned several technical areas this season but is still searching for the pay-off.

He narrowly missed the podium in the 200m breaststroke at the Canda West conference championship (by three one-hundredths of a second) in November — a meet he called one of the best of his career — then struggled at the U Sports championship earlier this month.

“(I) wasn’t at the level I needed to be (at U Sports) so leading into Westerns is really going to be a turning point to be able to set up, come home, I’m in a pool that I know, that I love to swim in, and we’re just going to get up and swim fast,” he said.

“It’s a chance to be able to step up, have another opportunity to swim at a high level and race some of the best guys in Western Canada and then take that and race the best guys across Canada.”

Beggs, swimming in his fourth Western Canadian championship, will race in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, and the 4x100m medley as a member of the Bisons.

Five other Manitoban clubs will be represented, including Alpha Swim Club, Manta Swim Club, Marlins Swim Club, Para Storm Swim Club and the University of Manitoba Varsity Team.

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jfreysam