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-meter butterfly and later clinched bronze as part of the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team, marking her fourth and fifth medals of the competition. In the 100m butterfly event, the 26-year-old from Kelowna, B.C. achieved a personal best time of 56.71 seconds, coming in second behind American swimmer Gretchen Walsh. Australian Alexandria Perkins grabbed the bronze with a time of 56.75 seconds.
Ruck expressed her satisfaction with her performance, stating, “This one [the women’s 100m butterfly] 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.”
On the other hand, 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 in the morning heats. McIntosh took responsibility for the error, expressing her frustration and determination to avoid similar mistakes in the future.
In other events, Canadians Blake Tierney and Ethan Ekk secured silver and bronze, respectively, in the men’s 200m backstroke. Tierney won his first international gold in the men’s 100m backstroke earlier in the competition. Meanwhile, McIntosh aims to bounce back in the upcoming 200m IM event, where she holds world records and previous titles.
In the relay events, the Canadian women’s 4x100m freestyle team, led by Ruck, claimed bronze, while the men’s team narrowly missed the podium. The U.S. dominated the women’s event, securing gold, with Australia and Canada following in the medal standings. On the men’s side, the U.S. clinched gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay, with Australia and Japan taking silver and bronze, respectively.