Canada relay wins gold at world junior swimming championships

Ryan Young

Canada relay wins gold at world junior swimming championships image

The Canadian junior swimming team earned itself another gold medal Friday night in Indianapolis. 

While competing at the world junior championships, Ruslan Gaziev, Alexander Pratt, Taylor Ruck and Penny Oleksiak won the mixed 4x100-meter freestyle relay for Canada with a time of 3:26.65. The finish was more than a second better than their time at the 2015 event, which they also won.

This is the seventh medal that Canada has won so far in the event, and the third relay win after winning the women's 4x200-meter freestyle and the 4x100-meter mixed medley earlier in the meet. 

MORE: 2017 World Junior Swimming Championships: When, where, how to watch

“The mixed 4x100 free relay was our toughest challenge to win. We knew we had to have our male swimmers swim their best times or we wouldn’t have had a chance to win,” Swimming Canada national development coach Ken McKinnon said in a statement. “We’re really pleased with the best times from both boys, who showed up and did what they needed to do. That allowed Ruck and Oleksiak to come in and finish the job. We’re really proud of the whole team, and the way the boys handled the pressure.”

Canada competed in several other events in Friday's session at the World Junior Championships. Kayla Sanchez, 16, took third place in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 54.44, finishing behind Great Britain’s Freya Anderson and Japan’s Rikako Ikee. Rebecca Smith finished just behind Sanchez in the event with a time of 56.63.

Jade Hannah, who took third in the 100-meter backstroke on Thursday, took sixth in the 200-meter backstroke on Friday. 

Two swimmers also qualified for final events later in the touranment. Faith Knelson, 15, earned the top seed in the 100-meter breaststroke final Saturday after winning her preliminary on Friday. 

Gaziev earned a spot in the 50-meter freestyle final Saturday, too, after finishing his prelim in a time of 22:46.

The junior championships will run through Monday, and the afternoon sessions can be seen live on CBC.

 

Ryan Young