Wog primed and ready

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This article was published 10/05/2024 (544 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kelsey Wog plans to carry the best form of her life into the final races of her swimming career at the Summer Olympics in Paris.

Before that happens, the 25-year-old Winnipegger has work to do. She can qualify for her second Olympics with a good performance at the Canadian Olympic Trials, set to begin Monday in Toronto.

Coming off a superb silver-medal finish in her signature event — the 200-metre breaststroke — at the Pan Am Games last fall and reaching the 200m breaststroke final at the 2023 world championships, Wog is poised to capitalize on some of the best training of her career.

“I think (training) has been better because I committed to myself that I wanted to make this the best year yet and to prove to myself that the best version of myself is still to come,” said Wog, following a Thursday afternoon workout at the University of Manitoba’s Joyce Fromson Pool.

“I don’t think feeling confident is something that comes easy for me,” she added. “I’m just going to stay in the moment, like I’ve been doing in training, execute my races to the best of my ability on that day and whatever happens, happens.”

At the trials, Wog will race in the 100m breaststroke preliminaries on Tuesday, followed three days later by the 200m breaststroke.

She qualified for both events at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago but did not advance beyond the preliminary round in the 100m breaststroke and was disqualified from the 200m breaststroke semifinals for using a dolphin kick.

“I definitely don’t think about it very often,” said Wog of her 2021 Olympic participation. “It was not the experience that I wanted. Performance-wise, the whole meet was not what I imagined it to be like. I didn’t enjoy it. That year has pushed me to want to really enjoy it.”

Competing in the midst of the pandemic was not ideal.

“Training by myself every day — day in, day out — it’s hard,” she explained. “Not being social and getting out with my friends is mentally tough. At trials, where my parents couldn’t be there, and I wasn’t able to go home between trials and the Olympics. I was on the road for two months… I’m still proud of making the team and doing what I did. It just wasn’t how I imagined it.”

Her longtime coach believes Wog is primed and ready.

“She feels confident. It’s been an up-and-down process but she’s done some really good work.” said Vlasik Cerny. “(Thursday) morning, she did some simulation racing and it’s the fastest she’s been in training. So that bodes well…

“The pressure got on her a little bit (in Tokyo). The year before — certainly before the pandemic — she was at the top of her game. But she’s done well. She’s had some success at the Pan Am Games and so we’ll see. She has all the tools to make the team again.”

Qualifying in the 100m breaststroke should be the most difficult challenge at the trials. Wog is among six Canadian women to have covered the distance in 1:06, which is faster than the 1:06.7 Olympic standard.

“I feel good about the 100,” said Wog. “I’ve done a lot of great things in training that leads me to believe that the 100 has a lot of room to improve and be better than I have been. So, I’m excited swim that.”

Cerny said Wog’s trials times should be a good indicator of what her performances in Paris will look like.

“The goal is to finish off with her best performance,” said Cerny. “We’ll take a look at the performances at the trials and sort of tweak it a little. Really you don’t have a huge amount of time to make major improvements. You’re going into a higher competitive arena and so repeating what you did at trials is a success.

“The idea is to be as fast as you can in the year of the Olympics and trials. Most people swim their fastest in their trials and try to tweak their performance — and if it’s faster, that’s a bonus.”

Although many elite swimmers compete into their late 20s and early 30s, Wog has made a conscious decision to move on after Paris.

Part of that determination was triggered by starting a masters program in microbiology at the U of M last fall.

“I’ve done my fair share of time in the pool and I don’t think pursuing another year or another quad will do myself any justice,” said Wog. “I’m retiring after the summer.

“It just feels right that this is the time to wrap it up. I have other endeavours outside of swimming that I want to see through.”

Cerny is looking forward to a fantastic finish.

“This is her final stretch and we certainly want her to be able to perform to her best, whatever that means,” he said. “And performance is unpredictable and you have to be OK with that.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca