OTOPENI, Romania – Canadian Madison Kryger won Canada’s first medal at the 2025 World Aquatics World Junior Swimming Championships on Wednesday with the bronze in the women’s 100-m backstroke.
The 17-year-old who trains at the Brock Niagara Aquatics, High Performance Centre – Ontario clocked personal bests through each round clocking 1:00.27 in the final. On Tuesday she swam 1:00.91 for fifth overall in the morning preliminaries then 1:00.38 in the evening for third in the semifinals.
In the final, Charlotte Crush of the U.S. won gold in 59.52 and Daria-Mariuca Silisteanu of Romania took silver in 1:00.02.
Kryger, also a member of the world senior team that competed last month in Singapore, turned sixth at the halfway mark but surged back in the final 50 metres.
“I couldn’t see the scoreboard, so I wasn’t sure where I was,” said Kryger. “But I knew my strength was underwater off the turn, so I just tried to pass as many as I could.”
Kryger knew she was going to need a strong second half.
‘’I go out slower than most racers so it’s sort of just setting myself up for that last length then maintaining technique.
‘’It’s pretty amazing how it worked out.’’
Canada has fielded a 26-member team (11 men and 15 women) for these world juniors which started on Tuesday and run until Sunday.
Other Canadian highlights on Wednesday: for the men, Oliver Dawson of the Grande Prairie Piranhas was sixth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.38 and Parker Deshayes of Calgary’s Cascade Club eighth in the 100 backstroke in 54.84.
Dawson lowered the 15-17 national age group record to 1:00.28 in the prelims.
Also, Clare Watson was seventh in the women’s 200 butterly in 2:10.83.
On Tuesday, Canada was fourth in the women’s 4×200 freestyle relay in 7:59.02 with Leah Tigert of the Toronto Swim Club (TSC), Ella Cosgrove, Maya Bezanson of TSC and Kryger.
The men’s 4×100 freestyle relay was seventh in 3:19.30 with Laon Kim of the University of Calgary, Francis Brennan of HPC-Ontario, Owen Ekk and Anton Semenyuk of Gatineau, Que.