The day had started well, but it did not end the way hoped for Eric Brown. In action in the 10 kilometers in open water of the worlds of Fukuoka on Sunday, the Montrealer ranked 32nd after a race in two stages.
Brown was unapologetic in the first leg of the race in Hakata Bay, Japan. He swam in the lead group for just over five kilometers, even reaching 14th place.
The Quebecer, however, lost his pace a little after halfway and he conceded several rungs to end up in 32nd place in the final standings with a time of 1:55:31.2.
“I had started well and was able to maintain my place in the peloton, but I hit a wall in terms of energy. It hurt, it was difficult to move forward and it slowed me down a bit, ”explained the one who fell 4 min 50.9 s behind the winner, the German Florian Wellbrock.
The latter won the title of world champion with a time of 1 h 50 min 40.3 s, ahead in order of the Hungarian Kristof Rasovszky (18.7 seconds) and his compatriot from Germany Oliver Klemet (20 .5 seconds).
British Columbian Eric Hedlin (3 minutes 45.1 seconds), the only other Canadian in the running, finished 31st.
Sunday’s scenario is reminiscent of that of 2022 for Brown, who finished 26th in Budapest, Hungary, in his baptism of fire at the World Championships.
“It was almost like last year!” Not quite what I wanted, but not bad either. I still have plenty of time to improve,” concluded the 20-year-old athlete.
Eric Brown will have several other opportunities to demonstrate his skills in Fukuoka. Barring a last-minute change, he will compete in the mixed 4x1500m open water relay on Thursday, before preparing for his three freestyle distance events scheduled for the pool next week.
Diving competitions continued on Sunday, as Caeli McKay reunited with teammate Kate Miller for the 10m synchro.
The Canadians first secured a fourth-place finish in qualifying, then turned to a tough final a few hours later. Execution errors, however, destroyed the tandem’s chances of a podium finish, which had to settle for eighth place with 279.93 points.
As has been the case since the start of diving activities, athletes from China (369.84) dominated the session to be decorated with gold. The British (311.76) and Americans (294.42) followed in order in the standings.
“The goal was to take it one dive at a time and focus on the things you could improve along the way. It didn’t necessarily go the way we wanted, but I think we learned a lot about us and our duo,” Caeli McKay said after leaving the pool.
It was the second international competition for the maple leaf duo, which finished fifth in Montreal last May.
“We’re going to work very hard in the next year and I’m not worried about what’s next. We have good chemistry and I think we just need to practice together on a daily basis. The recurrence of our training will allow us to progress and raise our level, for sure,” concluded McKay, who will now turn his attention to the individual event on the platform.
For its part, the national women’s water polo team began its tournament against Hungary, one of the main world powers in the discipline.
Down 5-3 in scoring after the first quarter, the Canadians battled hard to get back into the game. Coach David Paradelo’s squad managed to close the gap to just one goal after half-time, but eventually lost 11-10.
Axelle Crevier (2), Élyse Lemay-Lavoie (2) and Serena Browne (2) found the back of the net in this game, as did Kindred Paul (2), Hayley McKelvey and Shae La Roche.
Quebecers Floranne Carroll, Daphné Guévremont and Clara Vulpisi are also part of the maple leaf team which will play its next duel on Tuesday, against New Zealand. Note that the men’s team will start their tournament on Monday, against China.
Finally, in artistic swimming, Laurianne Imbeau, Raphaëlle Plante and Florence Tremblay took part in the preliminaries of the mixed team technical event on Sunday.
The Canadian delegation received a score of 190.7666 for their performance. His 14th place in the standings was not enough to advance to the final, where the top 12 will swim on Tuesday.