By Jim Morris

Mary-Sophie Harvey swam an Olympic qualifying time in Rome while Ilya Kharun completed a butterfly sweep 9,000 kilometres away in Vancouver.

Several Canadian Olympic swimmers competed in meets on opposite sides of the globe Friday through Sunday.

Harvey, who trains with Montreal’s CAMO club, finished fourth in the women’s 400-metre freestyle at the Sette Colli Trophy meet at Rome’s Foro Italico Stadium.

The 24-year-old from Trois-Rivieres, Que., in 4: 07.70 seconds, just .07 behind Brazil’s Maria Fernanda De Oliveira Da Silva Costa but just under the Olympic standard of 4:07.90, which would allow her to compete in the event at the Paris Olympics. Italy’s Simona Quadarella won in 4:06.43.

Summer McIntosh was the only Canadian to swim under the qualifying time when she won the 400-m free at last month’s Olympic & Paralympic Trials, presented by Bell, in Toronto. Ella Jansen also has a qualifying time on her resume from last year’s Pro Swim Series. Olympic entries are not yet official.

Meanwhile at the Mel Zajac Jr. International Swim Meet at the University of British Columbia Aquatic Centre, Kharun won the men’s 200-m butterfly in 1:55.13. The 19-year-old Montreal native won the 50-m fly Friday in 23.35, setting the meet record twice, and the 100 fly on Saturday in a personal best 51.02.

“The plan was just to see what I can do when I’m not shaved or tapered,” said Kharun. “It was all pretty good but definitely there are some tweaks and things I can do better.

“I think the results are pretty good, but I have to keep training.”

It also was a good weekend for Harvey in Rome who was second in the 200-m freestyle on Friday.

On Saturday, Harvey finished fourth in the women’s 100-m freestyle while Penny Oleksiak of Toronto won the B Final in a time that just missed the Olympic qualifying standard.

Oleksiak was timed in 53.77 seconds while Harvey was 54.69. They needed to be under 53.61 to qualify for the individual race in Paris.

The Zajac International, which ended Sunday, drew more than 750 swimmers from around the world. Several swimmers who will represent Canada at this summer’s Olympics in Paris used the meet for training and preparation.

In the closest race of the night, Javier Acevedo, who trains at the High Performance – Ontario, won the men’s 100-m backstroke in 54.93, edging HPC-Vancouver counterpart Blake Tierney by .01.

Acevedo said the close finish was good practice for Paris.

“I’ve been to two Olympics and the difference between making a semifinal and finishing 17^th can be .01,” he said. “To practice that and get here and take the win by that much is pretty good.

“It’s nice to know if it’s a close race, I can do the touch in the right way.”

Tierney had beaten Acevedo by .07 in the same race at the Olympic trials.

Josh Liendo of Toronto, who now trains at the University of Florida, won the 100-m freestyle in 48.62, breaking the meet record of 49.02 he set last year.

“Time doesn’t matter right now, I just want to work on execution,” said Liendo, who clocked 47.55 at the Olympic trials. “This is my last meet before the Olympics. I’m coming in tired, I’m in training. I just wanted to throw down good times and execute the things as close to how I want to execute them this summer.”

Sophie Angus, who trains at the High Performance Centre – Ontario, won the women’s 50-m breaststroke in 31.68 seconds.

Kayla Sanchez, who represented Canada at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but now swims for the Philippines, won the women’s 100-m freestyle in 54.25 seconds, breaking the meet record of 54.27 set by Natalie Coughlin of the U.S. in 2011. Taylor Ruck, who was born in Kelowna, B.C., and now trains at Arizona State, was second in 55.51.

“I’m not looking at times too much right now,” said Ruck, who finished fourth in the distance at the trials in 54.47 seconds. “There were some things I could do a lot better, like my turns.”

Ashley McMillan, a Penticton, B.C., native who trains at the High Performance Centre – Ontario, won the women’s 100-m backstroke in 1:00.82.

Ruck, Angus, McMillan and Emma O’Croinin, who trains at HPC – Vancouver, won the women’s 4×100-m medley relay in 4:07.44.

During Saturday’s races at the Zajac International, Olympic champion Maggie Mac Neil won the women’s 100-metre butterfly in 56.83 seconds.

In other races Saturday featuring Canadian Olympic team members, reigning world champion Finlay Knox, who trains at HPC-Vancouver, won the 200-m individual medley in 1:59.58.

Acevedo won the 50-m backstroke in 25.41 with Knox second in 25.81.

Results for the Zajac International can be found at:  https://results.swimzajac.com/.

The Sette Colli Trophy meet, when ended Sunday, attracted nearly 1,000 swimmers from 51 countries. Results can be found at: https://www.federnuoto.it/settecolli-2024.html.