(Sportcom) – The joy of swimming at home will surely be the theme of the weekend for Mary-Sophie Harvey and Katerine Savard, who are taking full advantage of the opportunity presented to them at the Swimming World Cup in Toronto, Ontario.

The energy of the crowd continues to amaze them and this was especially the case during Saturday night’s 200m freestyle final when the two teammates and friends got a chance to share the pool. Even if they didn’t manage to get a place on the podium, the two athletes were very satisfied with their performance in this final.

“We often train together over this distance and it’s really nice to be able to meet both in a World Cup final. When we compete together I think it spurs us on to excel even more and it sure helps us,” said Katerine Savard first.

“It’s always nice to swim with Katerine. In training we often push each other and that was the case again in the final. It’s always our goal to be together, we always wish each other the best and it’s good for both of us,” added Harvey.

It was Savard who had the advantage over Harvey in the little friendly competition between the two teammates. The athlete from Pont-Rouge was sixth (+5.27 seconds), Mary-Sophie Harvey was eighth (+6.41 seconds).

The 200m freestyle was won by Hong Kong’s Siobhan Bernadette Haughey, who was joined on the podium by American Katie Ledecky (+1.18 seconds) and Australian Madison Wilson (+2.36 seconds).

About ten minutes after the 200m freestyle final, Harvey was back in the pool for the 100m backstroke. Despite the brief interruption, the 23-year-old swimmer managed to live up to her expectations. She was seventh in a time of 58.09 seconds (+2.34 seconds).

“I’m pretty happy with my results, even though my times aren’t great yet. I had about 10 minutes between the two competitions, but I’m really surprised that I swam even faster than in the morning qualifier, I wasn’t really expecting that. I’ll happily take it!” commented Harvey.

“I don’t have time for many things in 10 minutes. I’ve done two or three races in a row in the smaller competitions, but that rarely happens at this level. It’s good for training and despite everything I’m happy with what I’ve achieved.

Katerine Savard was not outdone as she also had to return to the pool fairly quickly after the 200m freestyle final. Savard finished eighth in the 50m butterfly. Canada’s Maggie Mac Neil won ahead of France’s Beryl Gastaldello (+0.51 seconds) and Japan’s Ai Soma (+0.82 seconds).

“I’m satisfied given the circumstances, I did better in both of my finals than in the qualification. It’s a mental challenge to string races together, but it will certainly pay off in the long run,” said Savard.

“My time was okay, but I think it’s been a long time since I’ve swum at that speed. I’ll have to adjust when I get back that distance, but given the circumstances, I’m once again proud of myself.

On Sunday, Mary-Sophie Harvey will compete in the 200m individual medley, a race she considers her favorite. For his part, Savard will compete in both the 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle.

“Finally! The 200m individual medley! I’ve been waiting for this for a long time and it will be my only race today, I’ll only be able to focus on that. Ideally, I want to make it to the final and do well in qualifying,” said Mary-Sophie Harvey finally.