Canada's Tess Routliffe snags bronze at para swimming worlds
20-year-old swims personal best in 200m individual medley to land on podium
Canada's Tess Routliffe earned a personal best and a spot on the podium at the world para swimming championships in London on Friday.
The 20-year-old grabbed bronze in the 200-metre individual medley in a time of two minutes, 58.06 seconds.
That race also marked Routliffe's first career medal at worlds. She also owns one Paralympic medal, a silver from the 2016 Games in the same event.
Routliffe, who was born in New Zealand, but competes for Canada, first arrived on the para swimming scene in 2014 as a 16-year-old, where she made six finals and won silver in a backstroke race at the Para PanPac Championships in Pasadena, Calif.
"Coming into these championships, I really wanted best times. That's what I was focusing on, see where those times would get me. I wasn't super focused on medals or anything else," Routliffe said. "I know my breaststroke is stronger than my other strokes. We knew from Rio that I could come back and put myself in a good position with that stroke. It was really uplifting to see myself catching up to the leaders and it pushed me to go even harder."
WATCH | Routliffe races personal-best time to grab bronze:
For the second time in three nights, 16-year-old Aly Van Wyck-Smart of Toronto also made her way to the podium, claiming bronze in the women's 50-m backstroke S2.
Van Wyck-Smart did so in Canadian and Americas record time - 1:17.76 - just as she did on Wednesday when she captured silver in the 100-m back S2.
WATCH | Van Wyck-Smart reaches podium again:
"I would have liked to swim a little faster but I'm still extremely happy," said the world championship rookie. "The past month has really been exciting and I can't wait to see what comes next. It's my first time on the national team and these championships have been a huge confidence boost."
The championships, which also serve as the first qualifying opportunity for Tokyo 2020, run through Sunday at the London Aquatics Centre. Finals will be streamed daily beginning at 1 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca.
WATCH | Complete coverage of Day 5:
