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Canada's Brittany Maclean competes in the women's 400-metre freestyle heat at the Aquatic Centre in the Olympic Village at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London on Sunday, July 29, 2012.The Canadian Press

Ryan Cochrane may have been the first Canadian swimmer to qualify for an Olympic final here, but Brittany MacLean will be the first to actually compete in one.

The day after Cochrane was bumped from the final due to the reinstatement of South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan, MacLean qualified in the women's 400-metre freestyle. The 18-year-old Toronto native finished second in her heat with a time of four minutes 05.06 seconds, the sixth-fastest of the eight finalists.

MacLean's clocking broke the Canadian record by more than a second and earned her a shot at a medal.

"I tried to go kind of fast because a lot of the big names in my heat were back-half swimmers so I knew they'd come back really fast," said MacLean, who was in the same heat as France's Coralie Balmy and Italy's Federica Pellegrini. "It was nice to be out a little bit ahead. I still felt good at the turn so I charged a little bit."

While several swimmers, such as teammates Julia Wilkinson and Blake Worsley, spoke about their pre-race nervousness, MacLean said she was keen to finally get down to business.

"I watched (Saturday's) prelimns but I didn't walk out and look too much at the crowds to distract myself too much. The noise is incredible; the venue's amazing," she explained. "I was ready to go my pace and my training up to this point was really."

How fast MacLean can go in the final is uncertain. Even she replied, "We're about to find out." What's impressed even her is how she's been able to elevate her performance when it matters.

"It's a tight final," she acknowledged of the 400 free. "I'm looking forward to the future because I'm not done yet."

MacLean's sister, Heather, is also a member of the Olympic swim team.

The Canadian men's 4 x 100 relay squad didn't advance beyond Sunday's heats. Brent Hayden, Richard Hortness, Colin Russell and Tommy Gossland competed against front runners South Africa and France.

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