Cochrane captures second gold to end Pan Am swim meet
A concluding Saturday night at the races brought four Canadian swimming medals (more below).
Recaps: Day one | Day two | Day three | Day four | Final night: Women’s 800m freestyle | 200m IM | Men’s 1500m freestyle | Men’s and Women’s 4x100m medley relay
Women’s 800m freestyle
American Sierra Schmidt charged in front and broke the 15-year-old Pan Am record in 8:27.54.
The previous record belonged to Kaitlin Sandeno, 8:34.65 from Winnipeg 1999. With a silver medal effort of 8:29.79 Chile’s Kristel Köbrich won her country’s first swimming medal at these games. Two-time Olympian Andreina Pinto of Venezuela was third for her second medal, in a time of 8:31.08.
Toronto’s Brittany MacLean grappled with third for much of the race but was eventually passed by Pinto. The 21-year-old finished fourth. Tabitha Baumann was eighth.
Brittany MacLean, silent for the start of her 800m freestyle at Pan Am Games.
Women’s 200m IM
Caitlin Leverenz completed the individual medley double with a Pan Am record performance.
The race was never in dispute. Leverenz went 2:10.51 to break her record from the morning session. American Meghan Small was second with 2:11.26 out-touching Canada’s Sydney Pickrem who swam 2:11.29. Remember, Pickrem swam a Canadian record 2:11.16 in the heats.
“I would like to have been faster tonight, even try to get to the 2:10 mark but at least I have another meet this summer,” said the 18-year-old, referencing an upcoming trip to Russia for world championships.
Sydney Pickrem in the heats of the 200 IM at Toronto 2015.
It was the second-straight gold medal for the Americans on Saturday night. Ottawa’s Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson was fifth.
Men’s 200 IM
No medal here for Canada as Brazilians owned the race.
Henrique Rodrigues sped to a Pan Am mark of 1:57.06 breaking Thiago Pereira’s 2007 swim. It was Pereira for the silver in 1:57.42, also under his old standard. American Joseph Bentz swam 2:00.04 for third.
The crowd was behind Canada’s Evan White who ended up fourth. 400 IM silver medal man Luke Reilly managed to touch sixth.
This is just before Evan White hit the water for his heats 200 IM at TO2015.
Men’s 1500m freestyle
Not one Pan American swimmer came near Ryan Cochrane in his premier event.
The accomplished Canadian swam under the Pan Am record with a time of 15:06.40. He was worried about what toll would be paid for his 400m freestyle win last night. In the end it didn’t matter, “It’s good to be able to go a pretty good time in season when I’m only partly prepared,” he said. “It means good things in a couple weeks.”
Cochrane is also off to FINA World Aquatic Championships beginning on July 24th in Kazan, Russia.
American Andrew Gemmell was second and Brazil’s Brandon Almeida finished third.
Ryan Cochrane smiles after winning Pan Am gold in the 1500m freestyle.
Women’s 4x100m medley relay
The United States then won their third gold medal of the night, with a Pan Am record of 3:56.53 from their medley relay.
A touch under two-seconds behind was the Canadian team of Dominique Bouchard, Noemie Thomas, Rachel Nicol, and Chantal Van Landeghem. Brazil was third.
Men’s 4x100m medley relay
The Canadian men came third in the medley relay allowing the home team to end the Pan Am swim meet on a medal note.
Russell Wood, Santo Condorelli, Richard Funk, and Yuri Kisil raced to 3:34.40. Brazil swam a spirited Pan Am record of 3:32.68 to close the meet while the American relay was second-best in 3:33.63.
Canada finished the swim meet in third-place on the medal table in terms of gold, with a total of 27 medals. (8-10-9). The United States had 12 gold with 32 total medals (12-10-10). Brazil was second-overall with one less medal than Canada but more gold (10-6-10).
