Team Canada won six medals over the weekend at the World Short Course Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan. Four medals were won by Olympic silver medalist Taylor Ruck of Kelowna, British Columbia. Meanwhile, Blake Tierney of Mississauga, Ontario and Finlay Knox of Okotoks, Alberta each won a medal.
Ruck won two silver medals and two bronze medals in Azerbaijan. She won silver medals in the women’s 100 metre and women’s 200 metre backstroke, and bronze medals in the women’s 50 metre freestyle and women’s 100 metre freestyle. Tierney won silver in the men’s 200 metre backstroke and Knox won bronze in the men’s 200 metre individual medley. In short course swimming, the length of the pool is 25 metres instead of 50 metres.
In the women’s 50 metre freestyle on Thursday, Ruck had a third place time of 23.75 seconds. Katarzyna Wasick of Poland won the gold medal with a time of 23.4 seconds. Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong won the silver medal with a time of 23.48 seconds. Ruck reached the podium by three tenths of a second. Daria Klepikova of Russia was in fourth place with a time of 24.05 seconds.
In the men’s 200 metre backstroke on Thursday, Tierney had a second place time of 1:50.74. Pieter Coetze of South Africa won the gold medal with a time of 1:49.64. Dmitrii Savenko of Russia won the bronze medal with a time of 1:51.1. Tierney reached the podium by 0.38 seconds over Jan Cejka of the Czech Republic, who had a fourth place time of 1:51.12.
In the women’s 100 metre backstroke on Friday, Ruck had a second place time of 56.49 seconds. Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands won the gold medal with a time of 55.17 seconds. Anna Peplowski of the United States won the bronze medal with a time of 56.97 seconds. Ruck reached the podium by 1.07 seconds over Abbie Wood of Great Britain, who had a fourth place time of 57.56 seconds.
In the men’s 200 metre individual medley on Friday, Knox won the bronze medal with a time of 1:52.57. Luke Barr of the United States won the gold medal with a time of 1:51.34. Alberto Razzetti of Italy won the silver medal with a time of 1:52.41. Knox reached the podium by 0.34 seconds over So Ogata of Japan, who had a fourth place time of 1:52.91.
In the women’s 200 metre backstroke on Saturday, Ruck had a second place time of 2:02.44. Peplowski won the gold medal with a time of 2:02.34. Freya Constance Colbert of Great Britain won the bronze medal with a time of 2:05.61. Ruck reached the podium by 3.2 seconds over Canadian Brooklyn Douthwright of Riverview, New Brunswick, who had a fourth place time of 2:05.64.
In the women’s 100 metre freestyle on Saturday, Ruck had a third place time of 52.38 seconds. Steenbergen won the gold medal with a time of 50.78 seconds. Wasick won the silver medal with a time of 52.12 seconds. Ruck reached the podium by eight one-hundredths of a second. Klepikova finished in fourth place with a time of 52.46 seconds.
Ruck’s Olympic silver medal came in the women’s 4×100 metre freestyle at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. The medals for Ruck, Knox and Tierney will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
