RIO DE JANEIRO – Toronto teenager Penny Oleksiak advanced to the semifinal of the women’s 100-metre butterfly on Saturday while Victoria’s Ryan Cochrane failed to qualify for the finals of the men’s 400-metre freestyle for a third straight Olympics.
The 16-year-old Oleksiak finished her heat in a Canadian record and world junior record 56.73 seconds, good for third place among all swimmers.
The women’s 100 butterfly semifinals were scheduled for Saturday night. The final goes Sunday.
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“I feel pretty good,” Oleksiak said. “I’m excited to be going in third for semifinals. I didn’t expect that but now I’m just going to get ready for tonight.”
Cochrane finished his heat in 3:45.83 seconds to place 11th overall. The top eight swimmers advance to Saturday night’s final.
Cochrane, who won silver in the 1,500 freestyle at the London Games four years ago and bronze in Beijing in 2008 in the same event, finished ninth in the 400 in both previous Olympics.
He was denied a spot in the 400 final in London, missing out by one-hundredth of a second when gold medallist Park Tae-hwan had his disqualification overturned.
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“It’s frustrating, but I know I’m fortunate enough to have two chances at the Olympics and not a lot of people get that second chance,” said Cochrane, who will race in the 1,500 on Friday. “I’m an old-enough athlete to know where to see what I need to work on and I have six days to do that.”
Emily Overholt of West Vancouver, B.C., qualified for Saturday night’s 400 individual medley final by finishing her heat in 4:36.54.
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The Canadian women’s 4×100 freestyle relay advanced to the Saturday night final with a third-place finish in their heat. The team of Sandrine Mainville, Chantal Van Landeghem, Michelle Williams and Taylor Ruck raced to a 3:33.84 finish, 1.45 seconds off the fastest time posted by the Australians.
Canadians Noemie Thomas and Sydney Pickrem failed to advance in their respective events. Thomas placed in a tie for 18th in the 100 butterfly while Pickrem finished 12th overall in the 400 individual medley.
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