Finlay Knox swims Canadian record 200 IM to qualify for first Paris berth as an individual

2024 Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Trials

finlay knox It's been a busy week at the 2024 Canada Olympic and Paralympic Games. Two days ago, he qualified for the men's 4×100 freestyle relay by finishing third in the men's 4×100 freestyle relay with a personal best time (48.29 seconds). He won the men's 100m breaststroke at the beginning of the event with a personal best time of 1:00.66. And although he won the race, he didn't reach the Olympic qualifying time. This meant that he qualified for the 4×100 medley relay in that race. So the 23-year-old went into tonight's final session in hopes of qualifying for the individual event at the Paris Olympics.

And tonight, in his signature event, the 200 IM, he punched that ticket, setting a new Canadian record (1:56.07).

The record he broke was his own, eclipsing the mark of 1:56.64 he swam to win Canada's first world championship title since 2007. Knox won the surprise gold medal from lane seven, but held onto third place for most of the match.The race then ran home in the freestyle leg in 27.79 seconds, overtaking the American. carson foster and Shayne Casas for gold.

Analyzing his race on the SwimSwam Podcast in March, Knox said he was happy with his time but cited his splits as something he would like to improve on. “If you look at the split, it's not great. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not very impressed with how it was split.”

Knox 200 IM PB Split Progression

In particular, Knox cited her breaststroke split at the world championships as something she would like to improve on. “These are all pieces of information that we're gathering for the Olympic Trials and hopefully the Olympics,” he said.

He and his coaches put that information to good use, cutting his breaststroke split to 33.81 seconds in tonight's Olympic Trials final, 0.70 seconds shy of his 2024 World Championship split. In fact, the first three legs of his race tonight were faster than his world title-winning performance. Only freestyle was slow. His previous two personal bests were under 28 seconds, but his split was 28.50 seconds.

Now that Knox has secured a priority spot for the Olympics, he can turn his attention solely to Paris. While some of the big names will be absent from the 2024 World Championships, Knox has shown this season that he belongs in that category. His 1:56.07 ranks fourth in the world behind him. Wang Xun, Duncan Scott, and Shayne Casas.

Other additions to Canada's Olympic roster through Day 6 include: summer mackintosh and josh liend Add an event to your schedule. McIntosh threw the 200 butterfly in 2:04.33, setting the world's fastest time this year and just shy of his own Canadian record. This swim was the 12th fastest swim in history.

Meanwhile, Liendo achieved a new personal best in the 100 freestyle events early in the tournament, and then won all the sprint events. He won in 21.48 seconds, breaking his own Canadian record. This swim moved him into the top 10 in the world as the fourth fastest swimmer this season.

Canada's Olympic selection priorities:

Note: Click the Selection Criteria link above for a detailed explanation of each priority category. (Updated on April 15, 2024)

• Priority 1: 1st and 2nd place athletes who achieved Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT) in the “A” final
• Priority 2 – Relay Recommendation: Total relay times for the top four athletes in the 100 and 200 freestyle. For medley relays, the relay total will be the time of the top qualifier among the back 100, breast 100, fly 100, and free 100. If an athlete earns his 100 seconds multiple times, his second place athlete's time in those events will be considered.
• Priority 3: If no athletes earn an OQT at the 2024 Canadian Trials, or if only one athlete earns an OQT, then the athletes who achieve the OQT within the qualifying period and place in the top two at the Trials. will be nominated.
• Priority 4: In events where there is no nomination by Priority 1-3, the event winner who achieves an Olympic consideration time and swims within 1% of the fastest time during the Trials qualifying window will be provisionally named. World Swimming has issued a memo stating that Olympic “B” cut swimmers may not be eligible to compete due to athlete quotas. However, even if an athlete earns a 'B' cut here, they will not be subject to World Swimming restrictions if they have earned an 'A' cut at another Olympic qualifying event during the qualifying period.
• Priority 5: The Selection Committee has the discretion to nominate eligible swimmers to improve the relay, following the advice of the High Performance Director.

Editor's note: Swimming Canada updated its selection criteria on April 15. The priorities below reflect the updated criteria.

Priority 1 swims through day 6 (Olympic A cut, top 2):

Priority 2 swims through Day 6 (top 4 seconds free relay and top 1 second medley relay):

Priority 3 swims by day 6 (Olympic “A” cut at other events + top 2 at trials):

Priority 4 swims through day 6 (Olympic “B” time + event winner – unlikely to be invited):

Priority 5 swims through Day 6 (additional relay swimmers):

Swimmers who did not rank high enough in the Olympic A/B cut:

Cut A as follows.

• Rebecca Smith – Women’s 100 Fly (57.89) (3rd place)
• taylor ruck — Women's 100 Backstroke (59.78) (3rd place)

B cut:

• Julie Bourseau — Women's 400 Freestyle (4:08.12) (Win A cut)
• Lorne Wigginton — Men’s 400 IM (4:13.60) (Win A cut)
• Aiden Norman — Men’s 100 Backstroke (53.99) (3rd place)
• Kelsey Wogg — Women's 100 Breaststroke (1:07.00) (Winner has an A cut/selected for relay, Wogg does not have an A cut during qualifying period)
• Regan Lasswell — Women's 100 Backstroke (1:00.23) (4th place)
• Yuri Kysil — Men's 50 Freestyle (22.01) (2nd place, but not below OQT in another event during qualifying period)