Blazing to a personal best time by nearly a full second, Richmond’s Noemie Thomas earned a spot in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games with a runner-up finished in the 100-meter butterfly at the Canadian Trials on Tuesday night at the Pan Am Sports Centre in Toronto.
The 20-year-old sophomore at Cal-Berkeley covered the distance in 57.02 seconds — the fourth fastest time in the world this year — to finish just behind winner Penny Oleksiak (56.99). Both were well under the Olympic qualifying standard (58.74), as was third place finisher Katerine Savard (57.75) who held the previous Canadian record. Only the top two will represent Canada in Rio.
Thomas led from the outset before being out touched by a hard-closing Oleksiak at the wall.
“I can’t tell you how many times I have been thinking about this moment,” said Thomas who was clocked at 57.60 in the morning heat, her fastest time in three years. “Just having this dream finally come true, it’s surreal.
“At the same time, I know I have worked my butt off for the past four years. I can’t be more grateful for the support system I have.”
As a Golden Bear, the fly specialist helped Cal to a third-place finish at the 2016 NCAA Championships last month. She was sixth in the 100 fly and eighthover 200 yards.
On the international level, Thomas is a two-time finalist in the 100-meter fly at the World Championships,.
The 5-foot-3 dynamo also earned a pair of silver medals at the 2015 Pan American games in the 100 fly and as a member of Canada’s 4x100 medley relay.
Meanwhile, it was a near miss for another 20-year-old Richmond swimmer.
Luke Reilly captured Tuesday’s 400-metre individual medley event but his clocking of 4:17.14 was just .43 of a second over the Olympic qualifying time.
The UBC student won silver in the same event and at same venue at last summer’s Pan American Games.
