Oleksiak, Canadian women end short-course worlds on high note
Olympic star finishes meet with 4 medals
Canada won gold in the women's 4x50-metre freestyle relay, then took silver in the 4x100 medley relay on Sunday night at the FINA short-course world swimming championships, giving breakout Olympic star Penny Oleksiak her third and fourth medals of the meet.
The 4x50 team of Toronto's Oleksiak and Michelle Williams, Taylor Ruck of Kelowna, B.C., and Sandrine Mainville of Boucherville, Que., finished first in one minute 35 seconds.
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"A gold medal just is amazing every time. It just keeps getting better and better," said Ruck.
The Netherlands earned silver in 1:35.37 while Italy took bronze in 1:35.61.
The gold was Canada's second at the meet after the women's 4x200 freestyle relay took top spot on the podium Saturday night. Oleksiak and Ruck were part of that relay.
"We were just kind of riding the wave of excitement from last night and basically through the whole week. This was our last chance to race so we just wanted to give it all we've got and obviously it worked out for us," said Williams, who helped earn one of Canada's six medals at the Rio Olympics. "We had a great summer and we came out here to sort of prove that wasn't a fluke. Canadian swimming is on the rise."
In the 4x100 medley relay, Canada's team of Oleksiak, Kylie Masse of Windsor, Ont., Rachel Nicol of Lethbridge, Alta., and Katerine Savard of Pont-Rouge, Que., were second in 3:48.87.
The United States won gold in 3:47.89 and Australia took bronze in 3:49.66.
Oleksiak, the 16-year-old who won four medals in her Olympic debut in Rio this summer, also won bronze earlier this week in the 100 freestyle.
Also Sunday, Winnipeg's Kelsey Wog won silver in the women's 200 breaststroke. The national team rookie touched the wall in 2:18.52, just 0.01 behind Molly Renshaw of Great Britain.
"It's unreal, especially at home," the 18-year-old said. "I think that home crowd definitely gave me more motivation to go faster."
Kierra Smith of Kelowna, B.C., was fifth in 2:19.88.
Savard finished fourth in the 100 butterfly, breaking her own Canadian record with a time of 56.15.
The three-medal night brought Canada's haul to eight, including two gold, matching the total from Hong Kong 1999 where Canada did not win a single gold. Canadian swimmers set 17 new national records throughout the meet, besting the previous high of nine.