At the Pan Pacific championships in Irvine, California, Canadian swimmers Taylor Ruck and Summer McIntosh had contrasting performances on Friday night. Ruck secured a silver medal in the women’s 100m butterfly and later claimed bronze as part of the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team, earning her fourth and fifth medals of the tournament. In the 100m butterfly event, the 26-year-old from Kelowna, B.C., set a personal best time of 56.71 seconds, finishing behind American Gretchen Walsh who clocked 55.15. Australian Alexandria Perkins grabbed the bronze with a time of 56.75.
Ruck expressed her satisfaction with her performance, stating, “This one [the women’s 100m butterfly] was a lot of fun. I feel like I got good rest between prelims and finals, and did all the things just to try and feel relaxed, and just trust my body was going to do what it did.”
On the other hand, McIntosh, a 19-year-old from Toronto, faced disappointment after winning the B final of the women’s 400m freestyle event. As the current world-record holder, she failed to qualify for the A final due to a misjudgment in the morning heats. McIntosh took responsibility for the outcome, expressing her frustration and determination to learn from the experience.
In other events, Canadians Tierney and Ekk secured silver and bronze, respectively, in the men’s 200m backstroke. Tierney won the men’s 100m backstroke earlier in the tournament, marking his first international gold medal. McIntosh, despite her setback, will compete in the 200m IM event, where she holds multiple titles.
Ruck continued her success by guiding Canada to a bronze medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay event alongside her teammates. The U.S. and Australian teams claimed gold and silver, respectively. However, the Canadian men’s 4x100m freestyle team narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth behind the U.S., Australia, and Japan.
