Joshua Mc Leod swam a new meet record on his way to winning a gold medal on the opening night of the Fifth annual Canada Cup at the Etobicoke 25-metre Swimming Facility, Toronto, Ontario on Friday. In the 50-metre butterfly A-Final, 19-year-old Mc Leod lowered the Canada Cup meet record with a 23.70 seconds clocking for his gold medal, erasing Thomas Kindler's 2006 mark of 24.02.Joe Bartoch got silver in 24.07 while Stefon Hirniak secured bronze in 24.38.
Competing in the men's 100 metres freestyle A-Final the 27-year-old Bovell III, who won the 50m freestyle gold at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Championships earlier this year in Puerto Rico, won in 48.61 seconds well ahead of Joel Greenfield (49.18) and Brian Johns (49.21) while Mc Leod was fourth in 49.50.The other finishers in the A-final were David Hibberd (49.70), Blake Worsley (50.26), Hassaan Abdel-Khalik (50.43) and Richa Hortness (50.56).
Earlier on Friday morning in the preliminary heats Bovell was the fastest qualifier in 49.17 seconds.
Yesterday, the two gold medal winners also qualified for the men's 50 metre freestyle final which was contested last night.Bovell III sped home in 21.84 seconds to equal Canada's Brent Hayden's meet record which was established last year while Mc Leod was second fastest in 22.38 followed by David Hibberd (22.69).
In the 50m breaststroke, Abraham Mc Leod, the older brother of Joshua did not live up to eighth seed billing as he finished as the 15th fastest in the heats in 29.75, well off his personal best of 28.76 to qualify for the B-Finals.Abraham was hoping to meet the Worlds qualifying time of 28.04.He is the holder of the Open national Short Course records in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke.
Today, the final day of the meet, Bovell will start as the top-seeded swimmer in the 100-metre individual medley with an entry time of 53.50. Joshua is ranked second for the 100m butterfly (53.51), behind Stefon Hirniak (53.41).
