L.A. Invitational Swim Meet : Chalmers Wins 800 Freestyle

Chris Chalmers, a member of the Canadian Olympic team, won the men’s 800-meter freestyle Thursday evening as the annual Los Angeles Invitational got under way at the USC Swim Stadium.

Chalmers was timed in 8 minutes 18.07 seconds, just .41 of a second faster than Bram Tester of the Fullerton Aquatic Sports Team. But there was a big difference in their performances. Tester took almost six seconds off his qualifying time. Chalmers was six seconds slower than his qualifying time.

Chalmers is taking this meet in stride as he focuses on bigger business, namely the Olympic Games at Seoul, Korea, beginning Sept. 17.

Also, the Canadian team is in the midst of heavy training at this point, not rested at all for this meet. The Canadian Olympic trials were May 28-June 2.

“The trials are so stressful, we needed to put some time in between trials and the Olympics so that we would be able to concentrate on the Olympics,” Chalmers said. “Everyone has gone all the way back up to full workouts now. We’ll have time to go back down again before Seoul.”

The Americans are taking a different approach. The U.S. team will be selected at Austin, Tex., in the first week of August. They won’t have time to go back to full workouts and then taper again, so they’ll try to maintain the peak for about four weeks.

With the Olympic trials so close, the top competitor in the 800 freestyle for women, world record-holder Janet Evans, skipped this meet so that she wouldn’t interrupt her training at all.

Kim Brown of Mission Viejo won the women’s 800 in 8:50.51, nine seconds off her own qualifying time and more than 33 seconds off Evans’ world record. Brown, too, is training through this meet and looking toward the trials.

The Los Angeles Invitational will continue through Sunday.