DOHA, Qatar – Ingrid Wilm broke through for bronze Tuesday to give Canada its third medal in as many days at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Wilm’s time of 59.18 was good for third between two Australians, just .06 seconds behind Iona Anderson and a tenth ahead of Jaclyn Barclay. Claire Curzan of Team USA was the winner in 58.29.
“Honestly I was hoping for 58 high around this time but getting my best this season with a 59.1, I’m actually pretty content and happy with it,” said the 25-year-old, who trains with Dave Johnson at Calgary’s Cascade Swim Club. “It’s really nice to know early in the year what I can work on in the next six months to try to do my best later on.”
Wilm, who spent several years growing up in Doha, was part of relay bronze in 2022 and 2023, but relished the chance to step on the podium as an individual.
“It’s a pretty full circle getting my first long course individual medal in the same city and country where I started competitive swimming, so it feels pretty special,” Wilm said. “It was exciting, very tight from second to fourth so I’m feeling pretty fortunate for my long arms on that touch there.
“Getting a starting point such as this on such a high international level is an incredible way to start off the Olympic year for me. I can go into these next couple months of training knowing exactly what we need for the summer so I will do my best to try to make the (Olympic) team.”
Sophie Angus of the High Performance Centre – Ontario also had a final swim for Canada Tuesday. The 24-year-old came eighth in the 100-m breaststroke with a time of 1:07.09, her second fastest ever after qualifying with a semifinal swim of 1:06.66 Monday.
“It was a little bit slower than last night so it’s a little bit disappointing because I know there’s more I could have done. But for me it’s all about experience racing these top swimmers at this point and getting a feel for what a final like that feels like. There’s always good takeaways from it,” Angus said.
“It’s only February so there’s a lot more work to do, but to go two best times under some pretty big pressure is all really positive. I’m excited to keep cheering everyone on the rest of the week and get ready for the 50 and the (medley) relay.”
Meanwhile, Rebecca Smith finished 11th in the women’s 200-m freestyle with a time of 1:58.08 in her semifinal. It’s the fastest time since 2021 for the 23-year-old from Red Deer, Alta., who has also been swimming at Cascade.
“I’m super happy with that. I learned a lot from the morning and I felt like I incorporated that into my night swim. It’s February and I’m happy with that for right now. The goal is to take this meet and see where I can improve so I can move forward to Trials in May,” Smith said.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic medallist completed her nursing degree at the University of Calgary in December.
“I had a heavy hospital load so I think that recovery added going into these next few months will really benefit me,” said Smith, who captured her seventh worlds medal in the 4×100 freestyle relay Sunday.
More than 2,600 athletes representing 201 countries and the World Aquatics Refugee Team
are in Doha to compete in 75 medal events across six aquatic sports.
Live streaming and extensive coverage will run through Sunday on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem. See the full streaming and broadcast schedule here.
Fans can also follow along on Instagram and X through @CBCOlympics and @SwimmingCanada for highlights throughout the competition.