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Using worlds as a measuring stick

It will be a chance for Canada’s swimmers to prove how good they are while learning how much better they might need to be for next year.

It will be a chance for Canada’s swimmers to prove how good they are while learning how much better they might need to be for next year.

The 38-member Canadian team will test themselves against some of the best when the swim competition begins Sunday at the world aquatic championships in Shanghai, China.

Pierre Lafontaine, Swimming Canada’s chief executive officer and national coach, said swimmers will need a top-five finish in Shanghai to have a legitimate hope for a medal at next summer’s Olympics in London.

“I think it’s where the swimmers will establish their position in the world,” Lafontaine said in a recent interview.

“Everybody is dreaming of great things at the Olympic Games. It (the world championships) is going to put you down to earth on exactly where you are and what needs to be done.”

Leading the Canadian team will be Olympic bronze medallist Ryan Cochrane, world-record holder Annamay Pierse, and former world champion Brent Hayden.

Cochrane won a silver and bronze medal at the 2009 championships in Rome, but admits he wasn’t in top form in a post-Olympic year.

“I really wasn’t in the best shape of my life,” said the 22-year-old from Victoria, who was third in the 1,500 metres at the Beijing Olympics. “I really wasn’t motivated to swim really fast.

“I didn’t need to be on my A game.”

Things will be different this year with the Olympics on the horizon.

“The encouragement you get from good results at the world championships the year before the Olympics, nothing can really match that,” said Cochrane. “If you win at the world championships a year out, you know you are in pretty good shape for the Olympic year. If you are in the mix, it’s really encouraging.”

Pierce won a silver medal in Rome in the 200 breaststroke, after breaking the world record in the semifinals.

Overall, Canada won three medals two years ago and had 13 swimmers reach the finals.

Lafontaine wants this year’s team to at least match those numbers.

“The sport is about building confidence,” he said. “I think they need to be in the hunt for themselves. They need to be intimidating other people by their performance. They need to be able to establish themselves as one of the main players at the Games. People need to look over their shoulders when they see a Canadian kid on the starting block. That’s the tone we want to set there.”

Canada will also be looking to qualify its men’s and women’s relay teams for the Olympics.

Cochrane’s main event is the gruelling 1,500 metres. He also swims the 800 metres, a non-Olympic event, and has been experimenting with the 400 metres, where he won a silver medal at last year’s Pan Pacific Swim Championships.

In Rome, Cochrane led half way through the 400 metres, before dropping to seventh.

“This time around I know what it will take to be in the mix and be competitive,” he said.

“The 1,500 is harder to get your head around. You have to be prepared for so many individual races within it. You have to be prepared for the pain you feel at the 1,000-metre mark.”

Pierse battled injuries and sickness in 2010. The 27-year-old from Edmonton overcame a broken finger, was diagnosed with a magnesium deficiency, then came home from the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi with dengue fever.

Lafontaine said Pierse is back on track.

Hayden, 27, is looking to regain the magic he showed at the 2007 championships where he tied for the gold medal in the 100 metres.

Lafontaine said the Mission, B.C., native has been working hard with coach Tom Johnson.

“Harder than they have done in a long time,” he said. “He loves the event and he loves to race.”

Other Canadians looking to reach a final include Erica Morningstar of Calgary; Victoria Poon of Lasalle, Que.; Julia Wilkinson of Winnipeg; Alexa Komarnycky of Toronto.

One of the big stories at the Rome world championships was the staggering 43 world records that were broken. That won’t happen this year since the ban on rubberized bodysuits was introduced at the beginning of last year.

Cochrane has mixed feelings over the suits being banned.

“You need rules,” he said. “There needed to be equal access to all the suits.

“At the same time, I really was fine on them utilizing technology. I thought it was disappointing they regressed the technology back since before the year 2000. At least everyone is in the same boat.”