By Rick Madge
We might as well make a recording of this and play it at every big Canadian meet.
Audrey Lacroix wins the 200 Fly!
Yes, Audrey won the Trials 200 Fly here with a 2:08.58, easily beating the Olympic Qualifying time, and one of the few Canadian events where only 1 women made the time.
To put her longevity in perspective, Audrey, of Pont-Rouge, Quebec participated in the 2002 British Commonwealth Trials and made finals in both the 100 and 200 Fly. Two years later she won the 2004 200 Fly Olympic Trials, but missed the Olympic Qualifying time. Since then, she has basically won every big 200 Fly competition in Canada, including representing Canada at the 2008 (12th) and 2012 (15th) Olympics, and winning the 2015 PanAm Games in Toronto.
Not bad for a 32-year old swimmer whose first big competition was a FINA World Cup back in 1998. For those keeping track, that’s before the 100 Fly Trials winner, Penny Oleksiak, was even born.
What’s interesting is that she isn’t slowing down. Here are her Olympic Trials winning times:
2004 2:11.70
2008 2:08.87 (shiny suit)
2012 2:09.01
2012 2:08.58
This time around she won by over 2 seconds. But she knows her time here won’t be good enough in Rio. She knows the things she has to work on, and knows she can get to a 2:06.6 or better.
But the real question has to be why the young stars are all swarming over the short races like the 100 Fly, but none of them are stepping up to challenge her. She suggested that it takes a lot of years to develop a swimmer to do a good 200 Fly, and it seems that the young swimmers just aren’t looking at that type of event yet.
Why is the Canadian Olympic team so lop-sided with women so far? She said that every country goes through cycles, and right now it’s the women who are doing better. Pretty soon it will be the men again.
How do the swimmers on this team shape up to other teams she’s been on? She said that based on the World Championship team from last year, this team is fearless. More fearless than she’s seen before on a Canadian team. They don’t care who if its a nobody in the lane beside them, or a 3-time Olympic medallist. They plan on beating them.
Given all the young swimmers making this Olympic team, it has to be a little bit of a relief to Swimming Canada to have Audrey bring that type of experience and knowledge with her. It will certainly come in handy in Rio with all those youngsters.
bravo Audrey. Prunelle est fière de toi.