TOKYO — Canadian Sydney Pickrem rebounded from last year’s disappointment at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships by taking silver in the 200-metre individual medley on Saturday.
Pickrem lowered her Canadian record to two minutes 9.07 seconds to finish second in the event she was disqualified from at last year’s world championships after she choked on water in the final and got out of the pool.
“After what happened last year, I can consider it redeemed,” Pickrem said. “It was the best that I could do this week and that’s all I expect out of myself, so I’m happy with it.
“It’s been kind of a rough year being really sick and having mono earlier this year, so going into this meet I tried to have no expectations, just do the best I can for Canada. To go that time right now I’m really happy,” she added.
Japan’s Yui Ohashi raced to victory in a time of 2:08.16.
Also, Canadians Taylor Ruck, Kayla Sanchez, Rebecca Smith and Alexia Zevnik took bronze in the women’s 4x100 freestyle relay in 3:34.07.
Australia won gold in 3:31.58, while the United States took silver in 3:33.45.
“Picking up a bronze medal in the Pan Pacs is really satisfying and something that we can build onto going into world championships next year,” said Swimming Canada High Performance director John Atkinson.
Ruck has tied six other Canadians for the most medals at a single Pan Pacs with four. Medal records are nothing new for Ruck, who tied the all-time Commonwealth Games record of eight earlier this year.
Canada has six medals overall at the championships, one short of the team’s total from 2014. Competition continues Sunday.
The Canadian Press