Eric Brown, Emma Finlin Claim Canadian Open Water Titles

Photo Courtesy: Speedo

Eric Brown, Emma Finlin Claim Canadian Open Water Titles

Eric Brown and Emma Finlin were crowned Canadian Open Water champions this weekend at the nation’s championships in the Cayman Islands.

Brown (Pointe-Claire Swim Club) won the men’s 10-kilometer race at Governor’s Beach in a time of 1 hour, 55 minutes 24.7 seconds. He finished 2.5 seconds ahead of Eric Hedlin (Pacific Coast Dolphins).

Both swimmers will head to the World Championships. Brown, who qualified in a pool event, finished 26th at worlds last year.

“At the end I know I also have the speed so I could just come home. It kind of all went to plan,” Brown, the 400, 800 and 1,500 free champion at the recent Bell Canadian Trials in the pool, told Swimming Canada. “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.”

Third went to Benjamin Cote, 21.3 seconds behind Brown. He will swim the 5-kilometer race at the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile, in October.

On the women’s side, Finlin and Abby Dunford traded the lead most of the way. The two 17-year-olds ended up booking trips to Fukuoka for Worlds, Finlin winning in 2:05.00.6 after pulling away on the last lap of her first 10K. She was 36.5 seconds up on Dunford.

“I’m really happy about it,” said Finlin, who is part of Team Canada’s delegation for both Worlds and the Pan Am Games. “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.”

Dunford is heading back to Worlds, having finished 38th at worlds last year. Third was Etobicoke Swim Club’s Bailey O’Regan, more than five minutes off the pace, to get a Pan Ams spot.

Finlan also won the 5-kilometer race on Sunday in a time of 1:04.26.2. Dunford was second, a minute back, with O’Regan third, just two seconds back of Dunford.

Hedlin got the win in the men’s 5K with a time of 59:57.6. He was 17 seconds ahead of club teammate Jon McKay, with Ilya Kharun in third place.

“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,” said Swimming Canada Distance/Open Water Coach Mark Perry, who will serve as the open water head coach at Worlds. “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.”

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