The Pan Pacific championships showcased contrasting results for Canadian swimmers Taylor Ruck and Summer McIntosh in Irvine, California. Ruck secured a silver medal in the women’s 100m butterfly and later clinched bronze as part of the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team, marking her fourth and fifth medals of the competition. Her personal-best time of 56.71 seconds in the 100m butterfly placed her second behind American Gretchen Walsh, who finished in 55.15. Australian Alexandria Perkins took the bronze with a time of 56.75.
Ruck expressed her joy after the 100m butterfly event, stating, “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.” McIntosh, however, faced disappointment as the world-record holder missed qualifying for the A final in the women’s 400m freestyle event. She took responsibility for her misjudgment and expressed frustration for missing the final.
In other events, McIntosh rebounded with a silver in the women’s 200m freestyle before securing gold in the 400m individual medley. Meanwhile, Canadians Blake Tierney and Ethan Ekk claimed silver and bronze in the men’s 200m backstroke, with Tierney winning his first international gold medal in the men’s 100m backstroke. The Canadian women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team, led by Ruck, captured bronze in the event.
The U.S. women’s team clinched gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay, while the Australian and Canadian teams settled for silver and bronze, respectively. Unfortunately, the Canadian men’s 4x100m freestyle team finished fourth.