With Olympic qualification on the line an Okotoks swimming star shattered his own Canadian record to book his ticket to Tokyo.
Finlay Knox raced to the wall first in a record time of 1:58.07 in the 200m individual medley, earning qualification for nomination to the Olympic Summer Games on Monday evening at the Canadian Olympic Trials at Toronto’s Pan Am Centre.
“Leading up I was definitely a little anxious,” said Knox, the Okotoks Mavericks Swim Club alumnus, now training out of Canada’s High Performance Centre, in a CBC Sports interview post-race. “But just being able to have competition and being able to race is just amazing, I love it.”
The 20-year-old, a 2019 graduate of Foothills Composite, set the long course 200m IM Canadian record at 1:58.88, last month at the High Performance Swim Trials in the same venue.
He improved on that performance in the pressure cooker environment of trials and came in well under the Olympic qualifying standard of 1:59.67.
After an even race through the freestyle and backstroke, Knox poured it on the second half with blistering breaststroke and freestyle legs to close it out.
“It was a good swim,” Knox added. “We’ll look back at the tape and see what we can work on, but I’m pleased with the time and just happy to be racing again.”
Back in Okotoks, the watch party included Knox’s parents Alasdair and Abby, his two brothers, cousins as well as Mavericks coaches Todd Melton and Emma Hesterman.
“Watching it, standing and cheering, that was brilliant,” Alasdair said. “The last few days have been a nightmare, just so, so nervous. We knew he could do it, but you’re still nervous.
“On the day, he’s got to win and get the time and he smashed the record. I just can’t believe it. He’s incredible, just brilliant.”
Knox had opened the trials with a second-place finish in the 100m butterfly in a best time of 52.65, behind new Canadian record holder Joshua Liendo in the event.
He completes his trials competition in the 100m freestyle on June 22.
Melton, Knox’s longtime coach, saw his potential from an early age.
“I told my club president when Finlay was seven that he would make the Olympics,” Melton said. “He went on to tell me it was crazy to pinpoint a kid that early and all the thing you’re supposed to say to somebody that makes a comment like that.”
Though Knox has been a tremendously successful athlete he never talks about reaching the pinnacle in sport, Abby said.
Instead, his mindset has always been about enjoying racing and having fun.
“What he focuses on is swimming the best race he can and being technically very good and being strong, but primarily for Finlay it’s all about having fun,” Alasdair said. “I think he’s got a fantastic set of swimming genes from his mom, he’s had fantastic coaches all the way through his career. Todd has been phenomenal, the program he put together at the Mavs has been brilliant. Now he’s with the High Performance Centre, it’s those two things.
“But everything comes from Fin, he works so, so hard, he’s training right now six days a week and has been doing that for the last 13 years.
“You’ve got to hand it all to Fin."
On the heels of such a strong season the swimmer had to play the waiting game with the backdrop of uncertainty surrounding the Games in Japan.
The pandemic had several impacts on the Olympic trials, delaying the event twice and significantly reducing the number of competitors from nearly 800 prior to the last Olympic qualifying to 185 at this iteration of trials.
No fans, including family members, were allowed at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre with crowd noise piped in to give the athletes a dash of the real thing.
“In terms of the restrictions and everything else, it’s been a bit tough,” Alasdair said. “Finlay was here for a while, he had to work out in the garden, the basement using whatever he could find. Since he’s been back in Toronto they’ve had a good protocol. He’s been able to do an awful lot of training.”
Knox, who moved to Canada from New Zealand at the age of seven, began to show his ability at an early age.
Internationally, Knox burst on the scene in 2018 with a fourth-place finish at the Junior Pan Pacifics in Fiji in the 200m IM and followed it up with a bronze in the same vent at the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina.
In 2019, he won silver in 200m IM and bronze in the 4 x100m medley relay at the FINA World Junior Championships.
For the 2020-21 swim season, Knox signed on with the Toronto Titans of the International Swimming League and made an instant impact on the tour.
At the fall finals in Budapest, Knox established two short-course Canadian records, snapping a mark that stood 10 years in the 100m IM and breaking his own national benchmark in the 200m IM.
Six athletes had been pre-selected to the Olympic squad earlier this year, a group that includes world champions Kylie Masse and Margaret MacNeil as well as Olympic medallists Penny Oleksiak and Taylor Ruck along with Sydney Pickrem and Markus Thormeyer.
Canada is expected to bring 25 swimmers to the Games and hopes to build on its tremendous success from the Rio Games in 2016 in which Canada surprised many by claiming six podium finishes.
Part of a strong youth movement, Knox is eager to follow up on the success of the Canadian swim team five years ago particularly from its female competitors.
“We’ve had some great men’s swimming in previous years, but the women just dominate us,” Knox added. “I love seeing it and I want to be part of that and I know a lot of the other guys do too.
“I think there’s a group of us coming up and we’re excited to just have fun, race fast and go along with the women.”
The 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo run from July 23-Aug. 8.
Melton said Knox will handle the short lead-up to the Olympics next month as well as could possibly be expected.
“He’s going to be just fine, he’s got enough time,” Melton said. “Just for him to go for experience, he’s still young and he’s got plenty of time to get himself prepared.
“I know Finlay’s potential is pretty much limitless. You haven’t seen the end of him, this is the beginning with plenty more of these to come.”
