Gold medal for the women’s freestyle relay team
Swimming Canada – Taipei, Taiwan – Canada claimed gold in the women’s 4×100-m freestyle relay on the first day of swimming competition at the FISU Summer Universiade in Taipei, Taiwan.
The women’s relay team of Katerine Savard, Jacqueline Keire, Sarah Fournier and Alexia Zevnik posted a time of 3:39.21 in the final of the 4×100 relay to edge out Russia (3:39.39) and Team USA (3:40.09). A strong final leg by Zevnik allowed the Canadians to overcome the Russian team to claim top spot on the podium.
In the morning heat, Kelsey Wog and Kennedy Goss joined Jacqueline Keire and Sarah Fournier to post a qualifying time of 3:43.99 that had Canada ranked 7th going into the night’s final. Goss and Wog will also receive medals for their contribution in the preliminaries.
Katerine Savard also performed well in the women’s 50-m butterfly earlier in the night. The native of Pont-Rouge, Québec swam a time of 26.36 in the semifinals, the second fastest qualifying time heading into tomorrow night’s final.
Markus Thormeyer had a strong showing in the semi-finals of the men’s 100-m backstroke to earn himself a spot in the final. Markus posted a time of 54.80, a mark he feels he can improve on.
“I’m happy I made it to the final,” said Thormeyer. “It was a good swim but there’s more in me, and I think I can progress even more going into the final.”
Canada will have two representatives in the women’s 200-m backstroke final tomorrow night as Mackenzie Glover (2:10.62) and Alexia Zevnik (2:10.93) both qualified with strong performances in the semifinals.
Sarah Darcel finished just short of the podium in the women’s 400-m individual medley. Darcel was in second position throughout most of the race but was overcome in the last 50 metres by South Korea’s Seoyeong Kim and United States’ Allyson Mchugh. The gold medal went to Yui Ohashi of Japan who posted a Universiade record time of 4:34.40.
Jeremy Bagshaw finished 6th in the men’s 400-m freestyle with a time of 3:52.82. Although Bagshaw says it wasn’t quite the performance he was hoping for, he remains optimistic and excited about the opportunity to be competing in Taipei.
“It’s always fun racing in an International meet and this is a great experience moving forward towards Tokyo in 2020,” Bagshaw said. “I’m looking forward to the 200-m freestyle tomorrow and the relays this week. It’s always fun competing with your teammates.”
Eli Wall placed 11th in the men’s 100-m breaststroke with a time of 1:01.48 while Robert Hill finished 14th in the 100-m backstroke with a time of 55.24.
The Summer Universiade will resume tomorrow. Finals begin at 7:00 am ET and are being streamed live on CBC at http://www.cbc.ca/sports/summer-universiade-1.4244659.
Full results are available here: https://www.2017.taipei/home.