Canadian swimmers Taylor Ruck and Summer McIntosh had contrasting performances at the Pan Pacific championships in Irvine, California. Ruck secured a silver medal in the women’s 100-metre butterfly event and later claimed bronze as part of the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team, marking her fourth and fifth medals of the competition, respectively.
During the 100m butterfly, Ruck from Kelowna, B.C., finished with a personal-best time of 56.71 seconds, coming in second behind American Gretchen Walsh. Australian Alexandria Perkins took the bronze with a time of 56.75 seconds.
Ruck expressed her satisfaction with her performance, stating, “This one was a lot of fun. I feel like I got good rest between prelims and finals, and did all the things just to try and feel relaxed, and just trust my body was going to do what it did.”
In contrast, McIntosh faced disappointment after winning the B final of the women’s 400m freestyle event but failing to qualify for the A final due to a misjudgment during the morning heats. McIntosh took responsibility for the error, expressing frustration and determination to learn from the experience.
Despite McIntosh’s setback, she will compete in the 200m IM event, where she holds the world record and is both the Olympic and world champion.
On the men’s side, Canadians Blake Tierney and Ethan Ekk secured silver and bronze, respectively, in the men’s 200m backstroke. Tierney won the men’s 100m backstroke earlier in the event, marking his first international gold medal.
Ruck also contributed to Canada’s success by guiding the team to a bronze medal in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay event. The U.S. claimed gold in the women’s relay, while the Australian team secured silver.
However, the Canadian men’s 4x100m freestyle team narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth behind the U.S., Australia, and Japan.