Ingrid Wilm is dealing with the best and worst of herself as an Olympic debutante.
Good thing the best is winning out, knocking down the worst — the nervousness of her first Summer Games.
At least the way it worked for the Calgarian during her swims Monday at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, France.
“I was not just nervous — I was really anxious,” Wilm told CBC pool-side moments after a semifinal effort pushed her through to the women’s 100-metre backstroke final.
“I just wasn’t in the right head-space,” continued Wilm, a star of Calgary’s Cascade Swim Club. “And I think, honestly, you could see me trying to look at the crowd to see my family, so I think that was almost a small distraction — and then laughing at myself trying to find my lane realizing, ‘Oh, right, this is the Olympic semifinal … let’s get to it’ — was a good distraction and not a bad one. And it really just put me in a positive mood before the race.
“That was probably a bit better prep than almost throwing up out of anxiety.”
Whatever the case, it worked for Wilm.
She’s off to Tuesday’s final (12:56 p.m. MT) after a successful pair of swims Monday.
The late race saw her post a 59.10-second time to finish third in her semifinal, just over two-tenths of a second behind fellow Canadian Kylie Masse, of Windsor, Ont.
That effort was good enough to slot her sixth for the final for a chance at the podium.
Wilm qualified for the semis after stroking to fourth in her heat in 1:00:06 to finish 12th overall from the five heats held early Monday.
Also among locals on Day 3:
• Calgary’s Piper Logan and Canada had a monumental day in women’s rugby sevens, defeating host — and powerhouse — France 19-14 to advance to Tuesday’s medal round.
Logan was a star with 10 points — that’s two tries — in the upset and elimination of the Olympic silver medallists from three years ago in Tokyo.
To reach that quarterfinal, Canada won their last women’s rugby sevens game in Pool A preliminary play by defeating China 26-7.
Logan scored a try with 6:20 remaining to round out scoring on the match for Canada.
Canada, which also features Logan’s fellow Albertans Keyara Wardley, of Vulcan, and Krissy Scurfield, of Canmore, squares off in Tuesday’s semi versus either Australia or Ireland (8 a.m. MT), with the winner advancing to the final later in the day (11:45 a.m. MT).
• Calgary’s Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski and Strathmore’s Jessica Sevick rowing with Canada’s women’s eight squad to third in first-day heat action.
Their 6:21.31 time finished the Canucks behind winner Great Britain and runner-up Australia.
With only the victor moving onto the final, Canada faces the repechage Thursday (2:10 a.m. MT) to keep their defence of the Tokyo Games gold medal alive.
• Calgary’s Yvonne Ejim and Canada lost their opening basketball game of the Games to France in 75-54 fashion.
• And Calgary’s Rae Lekness and Canada lost their opening water polo contest in Paris, dropping a 12-7 tilt with powerhouse Hungary.