Sydney Pickrem of Halifax, Nova Scotia and Markus Thormeyer of Newmarket, Ontario each won gold medals for Canada in the FINA Champions Swim Series in China last week. Thormeyer won the gold medal in the men’s 200 metre backstroke in Shenzen on January 15 and bronze in the men’s 100 metre backstroke in Shenzen on January 14. Pickrem won the gold medal in the women’s 200 metre medley in Beijing on January 19, silver in the women’s 200 metre medley in Shenzen on January 15 and bronze in the women’s 200 metre backstroke in Beijing on January 18.
In the men’s 200 metre backstroke, Thormeyer had a winning time of 1:59.02. He reached the podium by 2.23 seconds over Radoslaw Kawecki of Poland, who was in fourth place, with a time of 2:01.25. Adam Telegdy of Hungary won the silver medal with a time of 1:59.15 and Jacob Pebley of the United States won the silver medal with a time of 1:59.95.
In the men’s 100 metre backstroke, Thormeyer had a third place time of 54.54 seconds. He reached the podium by 0.58 seconds over fourth place finisher Pebley, who had a time of 55.12 seconds. Jiayu Xu of China won the gold medal with a time of 53.01 seconds and Matt Grevers of the United States won the silver medal with a time of 53.54 seconds.
In the women’s 200 metre medley on January 19, Pickrem had a first place time of 2:09.26. Katinka Hosszu of Hungary won the silver medal with a time of 2:09.93. Rika Omoto of Japan won the bronze medal with a time of 2:10.09. Pickrem earned a medal by 1.76 seconds over Shiwen Ye of China, who had a fourth place time of 2:11.02.
In the women’s 200 backstroke, Pickrem had a third place time of 2:12.78. Hosszu won the gold medal with a time of 2:09.95 and Yaxin Liu of China won the silver with a time of 2:11.46. Pickrem earned a medal by 2.25 seconds over fourth place finisher Kira Toussaint, who had a fourth place time of 2:15.03.
In the women’s 200 metre medley on January 15, Pinkrem had a second place time of 2:10.84. Hosszu won the gold medal with a time of 2:10.42. Ye won the bronze medal with a time of 2:12.35. Pinkrem reached the podium by 3.3 seconds over Yiting Yu of China, who was in fourth place with a time of 2:14.14. The medals for Pickrem and Thormeyer in China will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
