Taylor Ruck wins Canada’s first gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games

Taylor Ruck (Kevin van Paassen, Canadian Olympic Committee) (with permission)

Canada has won its first gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.  Canadian Olympic bronze medalist Taylor Ruck of Kelowna, British Columbia won the gold medal in the women’s 200 metre freestyle swimming competition.

Ruck set a Commonwealth Games record with a time of 1:54.81. Ariarne Titmus of Australia won the silver medal with a time of 1:54.85. Emma McKeon of Australia won the bronze medal with a time of 1:56.26. Ruck earned a podium spot by 2.91 seconds over Eleanor Faulkner of England, who was in fourth place with a time of 1:57.72.

Ruck won two Olympic bronze medals for Canada at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She was part of the Canadian team that won the bronze medal in the women’s 4×100 metre freestyle and the women’s 4×200 metre freestyle swimming competitions.

Team Canada won six other medals on the first day of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. Ruck won a second medal in winning silver in the women’s 4×100 metre freestyle swimming relay. Canada also won silver in the men’s gymnastics team all-around competition, and bronze medals in the men’s and women’s team pursuit cycling competition.

Canada won two other individual medals. Sarah Mehain of Nelson, British Columbia won the silver medal in the women’s 50m butterfly for athletes with a disability. Mehain has cerebral palsy. Meanwhile, Joanna Brown of Ottawa, Ontario won the bronze medal in the women’s triathlon.

Written by 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *