"He'll live to see another day," said Hayden's coach, Tom Johnson, who is also the head Olympic coach. "It's nothing too serious, but it's not worth risk. He's mobile, walking around, back at the hotel resting." Johnson said Hayden's got a bulging disc and needs bed rest to recover.
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Three new names joined the Beijing roster and two swimmers broke Canadian records on day five of the Olympic trials in Montreal, bringing the team total to 26.
The night began with one of the sport's glamour races, the women's 100 free, in which Canadian record holder Erica Morningstar, 19, found herself in a familiar position: she was in a race against Julia Wilkinson, 20, who's been having the swimming week of her life. Wilkinson has broken three national records and just missed a fourth. But the 100 free is arguably Morningstar's event--she placed fifth in it at last year's world championships--and she was looking for her first win of the meet.
She delivered, out first from the start winning in 55:38. Wilkinson was fourth at the 50 but placed second in 55.53. But the times were slow--nearly a second and a half over Morningstar's Canadian record, which is almost certainly a reflection of the length of the meet.
"I wanted to go a little bit faster but hopefully I'll get down to a 53 by the end of the summer," she said. "This is my first Olympic trials, and there's a lot of pressure. I seem to find that I'm more nervous at trials than the actual meet." Morningstar appeared serious and filled with nerves when her face flashed on the video screen before the final. She said she was excited but "my coach has been telling me that I need to be a little meaner," she said. "I was all business. I wanted to win this race."
Jamie Connors, Morningstar's coach in Calgary, said that if he had to do it again, he wouldn't have entered Morningstar in so many events. So far she's swum the 100 breast, 200 free, and 200 IM, and she was top four in all of them. "I thought she'd go 54.5 because she's been great in training. But her swimming ability was hand-cuffed a a little [because of the amount she's swum.] The intensity here is incredible."
Morningstar didn't make the FINA-A standard, but the top four women, including Montreal's Victoria Poon and Audrey Lacroix, qualified for the relay.
In the men's 200 backstroke, both the first and second-place finishers swam under the FINA-A standard to qualify for Beijing. Waterloo's Keith Beavers, 25, who won the 400 IM on Tuesday, swam 1:59.42, just out-touching Montreal's Tobias Oriwol, 22, who pulled ahead of Montreal's Charles Francis in the last 50 to make the Olympic team--his first in three tries.
Oriwol's chances to make the team were running out. Thursday he was second in the 200 fly but missed the FINA-A time; Monday he was fourth in the 400 IM. "[The 200 fly] was a little bit heartbreaking," said Oriwol. "I went home and tried to get my mind on track so that I could have a good race today."
"Toby hasn't been that fast in the 200 back in a long time," said Beavers, who's heading to his second Games. "He surprised me in the morning and he surprised me again tonight. I really had to be on my game."
London, Ontario native Joe Bartoch, 25, broke a six-year-old Canadian record in the men's 100 fly, winning in 52.28. Calgary's Adam Sioui, 25, who already qualified in the 200 free relay and the 200 fly, was second in 52.81. Both were under the FINA-A cut.
Bartoch wore a boxing robe emblazoned with "Team Bartoch" before the final and jumped out of the pool immediately after to pump his fists and wave at his "team" in the stands. Bartoch admitted his career got off to a slow start. He swam at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas four years ago when he tried to make the Canadian team for the Athens games, but he lost the event to Mike Mintenko, whose record he broke tonight. "Everyone knew after he retired there would be big shoes to fill," said Bartoch. "I wanted it to be me."
The second Canadian record of the night was set by Vancouver's Annamay Pierse, 24, who pulled further from the field with each stroke and touched in 2:24.65, more than a second faster than the record she set over the summer. Calgary's Jillian Tyler, 19, was second in 2:29.36 but didn't get the FINA-A cut.
Pierse, whose 19-year-old sister Hanna placed fourth in 2:31.18, said she's been working on the last 50 of her race in training with her coach, Josef Nagy. "As my coach said, it's going to be the girl who can come home the best in that last 50 at the Olympics, and so it's what I really want to stronger and faster and better on.
Pierse was a bundle of nerves before Wednesday's 100 breaststroke. During the walk-on before tonight's race, she did a little dance for her teammates as she strolled by them, and it was clear she felt relaxed. She was happy about the race but knew exactly how Nagy would react. "Josef will probably say 'Good enough for today,' but the rest of the world's getting better and I need to get better too," she said.
The night's final event was the women's 800 freestyle final, won by Vancouver's Tanya Hunks, 27, in 8:33.61, under the FINA-A cut, qualifying her for her second event. In second was a newcomer, 15-year-old Lindsay Seeman of Newmarket, who pulled ahead of 400 free qualifier Savannah King to touch in 8:37.98, a phenomenal swim but just over the FINA-A time.
Hunks had since 2003 been better known as an open-water swimmer; she raced at world's and Pan Pacifics in the 5- and 10-kilometer events, but at Pan Pacs in 2006 she also swam well in the 400 and 800 free.
"My heart's always been in the pool," she said tonight. "When I was racing open water, Tom [Johnson] and I never really changed my training."
The four men attempting to qualify for the 4x100 medley relay--and break a national record--will have a chance to do so in the new Speedo LZR Racer suits. Speedo's flown in a few dozen of the suits for Sunday night's final.
With a report from Nikki Dryden