University of Toronto Varsity Blues swimmers Kylie Masse and Rebecca Smith helped Canada to a bronze-medal finish in the 4x100 medley relay as the 2019 FINA world championships wrapped up Sunday in Gwangju, South Korea.
Masse, along with Sydney Pickrem, Margaret MacNeil and Penny Oleksiak, placed third in a Canadian record 3:53.58.The previous mark was 3:54.86 from 2017's fourth-place finish in Budapest which included Masse and Oleksiak. In the prelims, Masse swam with Rebecca Smith, Kierra Smith and Taylor Ruck, who all receive medals.
Masse ends the meet with one gold (100 backstroke) and two bronze (200 backstroke, 4x100 medley relay), while Smith earned three bronze medals from the preliminaries of the 4x100 and 4x200 freestyle relays, as well as the 4x100 medley relay.
"This is not easy to do," said Varsity Blues head coach Byron MacDonald. "The trouble with all the success is that everyone starts to think that it's not that big a deal or special. The amount of work and focus and life commitment to your goals is all encompassing. It's great that Canada is having a resurgence of world prominence in the sport of swimming but we do need to realize how very special these achievement really are. It wasn't long ago that Canada would win but one or two medals at these types of meets."
The Canadian pool swimmers ended the competition with a team record two gold and six bronze, all in Olympic events. They reached 19 finals – two more than in Budapest in 2017 and the most finals since 1978 – 15 world championships ago. The previous medal record was six at those 1978 worlds. In addition, Eric Hedlin won a bronze medal in the men's five-kilometre open water event last week.
Canadian medalists in swimming this week at the FINA World Championships
GOLD: Kylie Masse, Windsor, Ont./University of Toronto, 100-m backstroke; Margaret MacNeil, London (Ont.) Aquatic Club, 100-m butterfly.
BRONZE: Eric Hedlin, Victoria Pacific Coast Swimming, 5-km open water;
Masse, 200-m backstroke; Sydney Pickrem, 200-m breaststroke and 200-m individual medley; women's 4x100 freestyle relay (Kayla Sanchez, HPC-Ontario; Taylor Ruck, HPC-Ontario; Penny Oleksiak, HPC-Ontario; MacNeil;
Rebecca Smith, HPC-Ontario); women' 4x200 freestyle (Sanchez, Ruck, Emily Overholt, HPC-Vancouver, Oleksiak,
Rebecca Smith, Emma O'Croinin, Edmonton Keyano); 4x100 medley relay (
Masse, Pickrem, MacNeil, Oleksiak, Kierra Smith, Kelowna, B.C., Ruck,
Rebecca Smith)
Full results:
http://omegatiming.com/2019/18th-fina-world-championships-sw-live-results
