(Photo credit: François Laplante, Freestyle Photography)
BELGRADE, Serbia - In a fitting end to the career of one of its senior members, the Canadian men's 4 x 200-metre freestyle relay put in an inspired performance to capture the bronze medal Friday, joining silver medallist Kevyn Peterson on the podium on the penultimate day of the swimming competition at the Summer Universiade.
Summer Universiade website: www.universiade-belgrade2009.org Team Canada website: www.universitysport.ca/belgrade
After Salmon Arm, B.C.'s Peterson claimed silver in the women's 200-metre freestyle event earlier in the evening, the quartet of Calgary's Ray Betuzzi, Brian Johns of Richmond, B.C., Keith Beavers of Orangeville, Ont., and rookie Matthew Swanston of Newmarket, Ont., had just enough to out-touch the Russians for the bronze medal in the evening's finale.
Following the race, Beavers hinted that he may be hanging up the Speedo after representing Canada at two Olympic Games (2008, 2004) and holding the Canadian records in both the 200-metre backstroke and the 200-metre individual medley.
"I said to these guys before the race that this is the last one, this is probably my last race as a Canadian team member and it was really special to swim with these guys and get a medal," said the 26-year-old graduate student at the University of Waterloo.
If it was indeed the final race of Beavers' career, he ended on the podium thanks to one of the up-and-comers in Canadian swimming.
Beavers swam the third leg of the race and had Canada in second spot, a fraction of a second behind race leader Japan. He turned it over to Swanston, who turned 18 in March and had completed his final in the 200-metre backstroke just minutes earlier. The American anchor swimmer overtook Swanston in the first length to move into the silver medal position, with the hard-charging Russians also gunning for him.
"I was going in a little tired, but I didn't want to disappoint these guys after a great start," said the 2008 Canadian junior swimmer of the year, who will be a freshman at Stanford University this fall. "I saw the Russian coming up beside me, so I just gave everything I had on the last 50 just to out-touch him at the wall."
The lead over Russia decreased with every stroke, but Swanston managed to hang on to win the bronze by just nine hundredths in 7:16.45.
"It was really hard to judge the field coming in here, and we had no idea how the other countries were going to stack up," said Bill Humby, the University of Alberta head coach who is responsible for Team Canada's relays in Belgrade. "We had veterans and rookies, and the plan was always to be the best team in the second 100. The smartest team usually wins, and all our guys thundered home in the last 50.
"Obviously we got a big swim from Matt, the rookie on the anchor, who had just swam the 200 backstroke. We just told him to keep his cool, and the Russian guy hammered the first 50 to try to get to him and fell into our trap. Matt fought back and touched him out. That's my favourite relay, it was just great."
Almost lost in the dramatic race for the bronze medal was an impressive finish for gold by Japan, which broke the USA's Universiade record time by more than two seconds en route to victory in 7:11.54, while Americans grabbed silver.
Swanston finished sixth in his first final of the night, the 200 backstroke, with a time of 2:00.42.
Earlier Friday, the University of Calgary's Kevyn Peterson looked to be on her way to winning Canada's first gold medal of the Summer Universiade in the 200-metre freestyle but instead settled for silver after being tracked down in the final metres.
Peterson, a three-time CIS All-Canadian, was leading the race at all three splits, but Slovenia's Sara Isakovic closed the gap in the final 20 metres and just beat the Canadian out at the wall by eight hundredths, winning gold in a time of 1:58.59.
"It felt a lot better than I had expected it to," said Peterson, who also won a silver medal with the Canadian women's 4 x 200-metre freestyle relay on Wednesday. "I was pretty nervous, but that usually works in my favour in races. I was really shocked to see at a couple of turns that I was ahead of the pack, and the whole thing happened in slow motion.
"It feels really good to be doing this here. I came in with the goal of placing higher than I was expected, and I've fulfilled two of three with the 400 free still to come tomorrow."
Breanna Hendriks, Peterson's teammate with the CIS champion Dinos, also swam the 200 free and finished eighth.
The two podium finishes Friday bring Canada's total for the Universiade to 13, six of which have come courtesy the swim team. The Canadians will look to increase that total on Saturday's final day of competition, which will conclude with the women's and men's 4 x 100-metre medley relays.
In other Canadian action Friday, Calgary's Hanna Kubas finished fifth in the women's 50-metre backstroke final in 28.72, while Allison Long, also of Calgary, and Matt Rose of Lindsay, Ont. qualified for the finals in their respective semi-finals for the women's 50-metre breaststroke and the men's 50-metre freestyle. Both will shoot for the podium Saturday night.
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