Swimming

After No-Showing 100 Butterfly, Ruslan Gaziev Drops 50 Freestyle At Canadian Trials

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By Ben Dornan on SwimSwam

2023 CANADIAN SWIMMING TRIALS

Day Three Prelims Heat Sheets

Heading into the third day of racing at the 2023 Canadian Swimming Trials, two high-seed swimmers have dropped out of the 50 freestyle. Rebecca Smith, the second seed, in the event has scratched from the women’s 50 freestyle, and Ruslan Gaziev, who was seeded 8th in the men’s, has done the same.

Rebecca Smith entered into the 50 freestyle with a 25.70, which she swam in February 2022 in Edmonton. That’s the fastest she has been since 2021, but her lifetime best is a 25.46 from seven years ago in 2016. The 50 freestyle was Smith’s only event on day three of the meet, meaning that she will now have the day off from racing.

Smith placed 4th in the 100 butterfly on night two, hitting a 58.98 to miss the podium and the FINA A cut of 58.33. It’s possible that Smith is taking the day off in order to prep for the 100 freestyle on Friday, in which she’s the second seed behind Maggie MacNeil.

Smith has helped Canada land on the podium in six relays across the 2017, 2019, and 2022 World Championships and also swam on the silver medal-winning 4×100 freestyle relay at Tokyo 2020.

In the men’s 50 freestyle, Ruslan Gaziev does not appear on the heat sheets for day three despite originally being seeded 8th in the event with a 22.97. This is the second event that Gaziev has dropped at the meet as he no-showed the 100 butterfly prelims on day two. Gaziev is entered in the 100 freestyle as the second seed and the 200 freestyle as the top seed later on in the meet. He has not indicated whether he will be in attendance for those races or if he has scratched from the entire meet.

Gaziez raced in the men’s 4×100 freestyle for Canada at the 2022 World Championships and raced in prelims for the men’s 4×100 medley and 4×200 freestyle, and the mixed 4×100 freestyle that went on to win silver in finals.

Another notable scratch is Nina Kucheran who dropped out of the 200 IM, having been seeded 10th overall with her 2:16.44 entry time. Kucheran’s scratch is fairly self-explanatory as she seems to be prioritizing the 100 breaststroke where she is the 8th seed. Kucheran dropped more than two seconds from her 2:28.93 entry time in the 200 breaststroke and jumped from 7th seed to 4th in the final with a 2:26.90.

One last scratch to report for day three prelims is recent World Championships qualifier Eric Brown who is no longer racing the 200 IM. Brown was the sole qualifier in the men’s 800 freestyle on night two and will be skipping the 200 IM, in which he was seeded 10th with a 2:05.68. Brown is still entered in the 400 IM, 200 freestyle, and 1500 freestyle later on in the meet.

SwimSwam: After No-Showing 100 Butterfly, Ruslan Gaziev Drops 50 Freestyle At Canadian Trials

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