She said it would be like this.
Kelowna’s Kierra Smith, writing in her blog prior to the FINA World Championship Trials in Toronto this week, predicted “there will be curve balls thrown, disappointments and celebrations . . .”
Competing in her 10th Trials, Smith, a graduate of the Kelowna Aqua Jets and Liquid Lightning Swim Club in the Central Okanagan, encountered both on opening day (Wednesday) of the Trials.
Favoured to win the 200-metre breaststroke final, Smith did just that with a lifetime best and 2019 world-best time of 2:21.75, but was disqualified because it was decided her elbows exited the water. While the decision was appealed, the DQ was upheld.
Fast forward to Thursday at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.
Smith, 25, battled back from the major disappointment to swim another personal best (1:06.54) to win the 100-metre breaststroke and earn a berth on Team Canada for this summer’s FINA World Championships in Gwangju, Korea.
Photo Credit: NowMedia/Lorne WhiteKierra Smith
It will be the second world championship for the Immaculata High School graduate, who finished eighth in the 200 breast and 21st in the 100 breast in 2015.
A seventh-place finisher at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (19th in the 100 breast), Smith, now training at the High Performance Centre in Toronto after graduating from the University of Minnesota, said she was “so relieved” to nail down her spot on the Canadian team, especially after Wednesday’s disqualification.
“It was another great swim. I was proud of my swim last night (in the 200). Now I want to be even faster at the worlds.”
Photo Credit: Swimming CanadaKierra Smith
Meanwhile, Taylor Ruck, who was born in Kelowna, but moved with her family to Scottsdale, Ariz. before she was one year old, also qualified for the FINA Worlds
The 18-year-old (she’ll be 19 on May 28) won the 100-metre freestyle at the Trials on Thursday with a time of 53.26 seconds.
On Wednesday, Ruck qualified for the Worlds with a second-place finish in the 100 backstroke race with a time of 58.55, the second-best time in the world this season.
Photo Credit: Swimming Canada
The trials, which end Sunday, have attracted 627 athletes (346 female, 281 male) representing 157 clubs. That includes international competitors from 21 countries: Algeria, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Italy, Kenya, Latvia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States.
