Surrey swimmer Hilary Caldwell is headed to the Olympics.
Caldwell, a South Surrey native and Pacific Sea Wolves Swim Club member who now lives and trains in Victoria, punched her ticket to the Summer Games in London after placing second in the women’s 200-metre backstroke last weekend at national team trials in Montreal.
Caldwell finished in a time of two minutes and 9.1 seconds – which not only met the Olympic standard but also set a B.C. senior provincial record in the process.
Caldwell finished second to Ontarian Sinead Russell, and will now be one of 31 swimmers heading to the 2012 Games – Canada’s largest Olympic swim team since 2000 in Sydney, Australia.
“I knew it was going to be a really competitive final,” said Caldwell in a Swimming Canada release. “But tonight was my turn. When you’re in the final at an Olympic trials there is a lot of stress, and to be able to perform like that was what I needed.”
In addition to her Olympic-qualifying swim in the 200-m backstroke, Caldwell also finished third in the 100-m back.
Though Caldwell was the only local swimmer to make the Olympic cut, other Pacific Sea Wolves had top-16 finishes in Montreal, too, including Jy Lawrence and Kate Caldwell in the women’s 400-m individual medley, and Emma Mittermaier, who swam to a new B.C. 15-17 girls record in the 50-m freestyle, clocking a time of 26.2 seconds.