Quebec swimmer bounces back in style after missing the Paris Games by a dustup

After missing out on qualifying for the Paris Olympics by a whisker, swimmer Antoine Sauvé could have been left feeling down and sorry for himself for a long time, but instead he redoubled his efforts and earned his spot for the World Championships, which will take place from July 27 to August 3 in Singapore.

In a very close race in the 200m freestyle, the Mont-Royal swimmer finished ^5th , 0.04 seconds behind Jeremy Bagshaw, who earned the last available pass at his ^5th Olympic Trials.

"It wasn't easy at the time," Sauvé admitted, "and it took me two weeks to get back on my feet. If it had been a young person who had gone before me, it would have been even more depressing. For Jeremy, it was his last chance to qualify for the Olympics, while I was still very young at 18. I told myself that I would have the opportunity to recover. That was my way of handling the situation."

New Canadian record holder

Barely a year later, Sauvé finds himself in a completely different frame of mind. At the Trials in Victoria on June 12, he broke one of the oldest Canadian records in history by lowering Brent Hayden's mark in the 200m freestyle set at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Sauvé clocked 1 min 46.39 s, slashing 0.01 s from the bronze medalist's mark in the 100m freestyle at the London 2012 Games.

"Yes, I'm happy to have qualified for my first career individual event at the senior world championships, but having achieved a Canadian record is what makes me proud," he said. "After my race, I received a text message from him."

"It was moving to receive his message and it was beautiful to see how he was freaking out and how happy he was for me, to pursue the CAMO club swimmer. He told me not to hesitate to contact him if I wanted advice. I haven't done so yet, but it might happen this week or during the world championships."

A Canadian record in the B final

Eliminated from the A final due to a slow time in the preliminaries, Sauvé achieved his world standard in the B final, something that is very rare.

"I was shocked when I saw that I hadn't qualified for the A final, but in the end, it didn't affect me that much. I could have easily qualified, but I lacked effort by underestimating the times that the others would do."

Despite the shock, Claude St-Jean's protégé still believed in his chances. "I wasn't stressed and I told the guys I was going to beat them," he said. "It was pure pleasure, this race. Because I was the only one who achieved his standard in both finals, I was selected."

“A first real world championship”

Although he will be competing in his first individual event, Sauvé, who followed in the footsteps of his brother Pierre-Alexandre and his sister Catherine in swimming, did however participate in the World Championships in the winter of 2024 in Qatar, but this achievement did not have the same value in his eyes.

"This will be my first real world championship," he said. "In Qatar, it wasn't the same level we're going to find this year because it was an Olympic year and we had several absentees. I want to have fun, but I have confidence in my training. We did a big block. It was difficult, but it will pay off at the world championship."

In addition to the 200m freestyle, Sauvé will compete in the 4 x 100m freestyle and 4 x 200m freestyle relays. While the pool swimming events don't begin until July 27, the World Aquatics Championships got underway last Friday with the water polo tournament.

Sauvé will be able to count on the presence of his coach, who will lead the Qatar team which includes his teammate at CAMO Ali Sayed.