Quebec Cup: Annamay Pierse Sets Canadian Record

MONTREAL, Quebec, Canada, June 21. ANNAMAY Pierse of Vancouver continued her hot hand in 2009 on Sunday lowering her Canadian record in the women's 100-metre breaststroke at the Canada Cup swimming competition.

Pierse, an Olympic finalist last year, clocked one minute and 07.31 seconds to better her previous mark of 1:07.78 set at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. Amanda Reason of Etobicoke, Ont., was second in 1:08.18 and Michaela Sceli of Montreal third in 1:11.26.

A sellout crowd of about 3,000 spectators cheered loudly as Pierse chased the record down.

‘'The crowd was really into it tonight,'' said Pierse, who is coached by Josef Nagy. ‘'It was totally awesome. They were already going nuts when they announced my name and to have everyone cheering for me was really exciting. It was like my race in Toronto.''

Toronto was where Pierse broke the world short course record in the 200 breaststroke this past March. She also delivered a strong 200 breaststroke Saturday in the Olympic-size pool bettering her performance from last year's Olympic trials.

‘'There's no big secret to my success this year, it's just hard work, more hard work and even more hard work,'' she said. ‘'Tonight I had some really strong sections in my race such as the last 20 metres and my turn at the 50-meter mark. It was really important for me to get that time. I wanted to leave here with at least one personal best time. That's always a good thing.''

Other Canadian winners in women's competition were Jennifer Carroll in the 50 backstroke, Audrey Lacroix in the 200 butterfly, Barbara Jardin in the 400 individual medley and Geneviève Saumur in the 100 freestyle. All are from Montreal.

The meet's star attraction Michael Phelps of the U.S., took the men's 100 freestyle in 48.65 seconds to lead an American sweep. On Saturday in his100 butterfly victory he came within 0.08 seconds of the world record.

Mathieu Bois of Montreal completed a golden sweep of the three breaststroke events winning the 100 metre race in 1:02.12.

Full Results

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