National swimmer Nikoli Blackman added the men’s 100m freestyle B-final gold medal to his 50m freestyle B-final triumph on Monday night when the fourth and penultimate night of the 2025 Bell Canadian Swimming Trials took place at the Saanich Commonwealth Place in British Columbia, Canada, on Tuesday.
A University of Tennessee student-athlete, the 19-year-old Blackman was a cut above his rivals in the 100m freestyle B-final and stormed to victory in 48.66 seconds, shy of the World Aquatics Championship ‘A’ standard qualification time of 48.32, but good enough for the fourth spot in the A-final.
A distant second to Blackman on the night was Aiden Norman in 49.92, while Paul Dardis was third in 50.45, followed by Luke Stewart-Beinder (50.58), Jake Gaunt (50.67), Chris Weeks (50.77), Gibson Black (50.88) and Raine Arden (51.00).
In Tuesday’s morning heats, Blackman, competing as the fourth-seeded swimmer in the men’s 100m freestyle in 48.56, was third in the eighth and final heat in 49.86 to finish behind top qualifier Rusian Gaziev (48.79) and Josh Liendo, who was seventh overall in 49.70 to secure a spot in last night’s B-Final.
The A-Final was open to only Canadian swimmers, which meant Blackman, despite a top-eight time, was relegated to the B-Final.
In the A-Final, Gaziev won in 48.37 with Antoine second in 48.42 and Liendo, who was born to T&T parentage, third in 48.42, and Filip Senc-Samardsiz, fourth in 49.13.
The other finishers in the A-Final were Patrick Hussey (49.26), Yuri Kisil (49.30), Finlay Knox (49.45) and Laon Kim (49.63).
On Monday night, Blackman, swimming in the fourth lane, won the men’s 50m freestyle B-Final in 22.54 seconds, with Ali Sayed of Qatar second in 22.57 and Newfoundland and Labrador’s Weeks, 17, third in 22.78.
The other finishers in the B-final were Dardis (23.04), Justin Baker (23.07), six feet and nine inches’ Liam Weaver (23.07), Zackariah Boulaajoul (23.15) and Arden (23.63).
In the A-Fina, the University of Florida ‘Gators’ and Olympic silver medallist in the 100 butterfly, Liendo, claimed the men’s 50 freestyle title with the only sub-22 performance of the field, clocking 21.88.
The 22-year-old Liendo, who holds the Canadian record at 21.48, won the event by nearly two-tenths over two-time Olympic bronze medallist Ilya Kharun, who touched in 22.06, a lifetime best but just shy of the 22.05 ‘A’ standard helplessly, while Tokyo Olympian Ruslan Gaziev, returning after an eighteen-month suspension for whereabouts failures, rounded out the podium with a 22
Kisil was fourth in 22.50, followed by Sauve (22.82), Eric Ginzburg (22.82), Albert Bouley (22.88), and Stewart-Beinder (23.00).
On Monday morning in the preliminary heat, Blackman, who is using the meet as part of his preparations for the upcoming World Aquatics Championships in Singapore from July 11 to August 3, raced to victory in the seventh of nine heats in 22.80 seconds, the fifth fastest time overall, but shy of the ‘A’ standard qualification time for the World Aquatics Championship.
Stewart-Beinder was second in the heat in 23.00, the seventh-joint fastest time with Bouley, with Sauve third in 23.02.
The other finishers in the heat were Senc-Samardzic (23.05), Dardis (23.09), Weaver (23.18), and Joel Blanco (23.32).
For the World Aquatics Championship, Blackman has already attained the men’s 200m ‘B’ standard qualification time and was hoping to hit the 48.32 seconds qualification mark to join countryman Dylan Carter as qualifiers to Singapore.
