Eric Brown and Emma Finlin Win the Canadian Open Water Swimming World Championship Trials

Swimming Canada reported that Eric Brown and Emma Finlin won the Canadian Open Water Swimming Trials that were held on Grand Cayman in the warm waters of the Cayman Islands.

Brown, representing Pointe-Claire Swim Club, won the men’s 10 km race at Governors Beach, upsetting a former World Championship medalist Eric Hedlin. Finlin won the women’s race with Abby Dunford finishing second.

The top two males and females earned spots to represent Canada at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships to be held in Fukuoka, Japan. Third-place finishers Benjamin Cote and Bailey O'Regan also earned trips to the World Championships to compete in the 5 km event. Brown, who had already earned a spot on the Canadian national pool team, sprinted the last 700 meters to edge Hedlin by 2.5 seconds in 1 hour 55 minutes 24.7 seconds. “At the end, I know I also have the speed so I could just come home. It kind of all went to plan,” said Brown, the 400m, 800m and 1500m champion at the recent Canadian Pool Trials. “I’m excited to see what I can do this summer. I’ll try things out and do the double with pool and open water, and just have fun with it a week apart.”

Brown finished 26th in the 2022 World Championship 10 km race.

Hedlin, a two-time world medalist in the 5 km distance, set the pace early and had held the lead most of the way. "Unfortunately I led the least important part of the race. I would rather lead into the finish, but I’ll take it, it’s good,” said Hedlin, adding that he swam above a stingray he spotted in the Caribbean Sea.

Cote came third, 21.3 seconds off the pace, ahead of Liam Clawson-Honeyman by 0.8 seconds.

In the women’s race, Dunford and Finlin exchanged the lead throughout the race. Finlin finally pulled ahead going into the last lap. She ended up winning comfortably in a time of 2 hours 5 minutes 0.6 seconds. “I’m really happy about it. It’s my first 10 km so it was mostly for the experience, but it’s really great to qualify for worlds in open water.” The 17-year-old, who finished 28th for Canada in the 5 km at last year’s World Championships, already had a spot on the pool team by winning the 1500m at the recent Canadian Trials. Dunford, also 17 years old, held on to finish 36.5 seconds behind, while O’Regan finished 5 minutes 49 seconds off the pace, holding off Julia Strojnowska. “I just tried to stay with Emma for as long as I could. We did an amazing job racing each other. The last two laps I just tried to get home as fast as possible and just try to keep my spot in second place and keep my mind strong,” said Dunford, who represented Canada at last year’s World Championships, finishing 38th in the 10 km. “I think I did a pretty good job at doing that so I’m really happy about the way I finished.”

Swimming Canada Distance/Open Water Coach Mark Perry will serve as Open Water Head Coach at worlds. He will be joined by Ryan Cloutson and Martin Gingras as team coaches. Cynthia Pincott will be team manager. “We’re excited for the World Championships. We’ve got a fairly young team with a mix of some experience on the men’s side,” Perry said. “Eric Hedlin is a veteran with a couple of world medals under his belt and we’ll be building on the work that we did with a couple on the women’s side and with Eric Brown on the men’s side. They’ve been last year and they’ve got some experience, and then a couple of new additions with Ben Cote and Bailey getting a chance to do the 5-km. They’re pretty excited about that and it’s good to have some new members of the team.”

For full event information, visit here.

Women's 10 km Results
1. Emma Finlin 2:05:00.6 2. Abby Dunford 2:05:37.1
3. Bailey O'Regan 2:10:49.6
4. Julia Strojnowska 2:10:52.4
5. Megan Frost 2:11:19.8
6. Katie Marovino 2:11:56.3
7. Maria Saldana Riebeling 2:11:56.7
8. Chantel Jeffrey 2:12:04.2
9. Gabriella Doueihy 2:12:21.9
10. Lydia James-Brennan 2:15:17.9
11. Brynne Leroy 2:16:02.0
12. Sydney Shemilt 2:19:02.0
13. Bevin Toews 2:20:25.3
14. Kealeigh McLeod 2:21:37.4
15. Alexia Pham-Spickler 2:23:11.4

Men's 10 km Results
1. Eric Brown 1:55:24.7
2. Eric Hedlin 1:55:27.2
3. Benjamin Cote 1:55:46.0
4. Liam Clawson-Honeyman 1:56:53.7
5. Jon McKay 1:56:56.3
6. Ilya Kharun 1:59:05.1
7. Olivier Risk 1:59:32.9
8. David Pouliot 1:59:47.0
9. Thomas Langlois 2:04:17.1
10. Guillaume Lord 2:04:38.3
11. Elijah Agostinelli Stull 2:04:43.9
12. Jean-Felix Pelletier 2:07:43.1
13. Jordan Schaepper 2:12:25.8
DNF Mateusz Powalowski
DNF Max Vorobiev

Santiago 2023 Pan American Games Athletes & Coachs:
Benjamin Cote of Calgary
Abby Dunford of Regina
Emma Finlin of Edmonton
Eric Hedlin of Victoria
Coach Mark Perry of Ottawa Coach Paul Birmingham of Edmonton
Coach Greg Arkhurst of Montreal
Manager Bette El-Hawary of Halifax

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