Canadian swimmers win gold in mixed relay at short-course worlds
Kylie Masse adds silver medal in 100m backstroke
Canada continued to find success at the short-course world championships in Abu Dhabi on Friday, claiming gold in the mixed freestyle relay, while Kylie Masse scored individual silver in the 100-metre backstroke.
In the mixed 4x50m freestyle relay, Canada finished with a time of one minute, 28.55 seconds which set a Canadian record, beating the Netherlands by 6-hundredths of a second.
Russia was 0.42 seconds behind the Canadians to capture bronze.
First out of the blocks for the Canadians was Josh Liendo of Toronto, whose time of 20.94 seconds gave Canada a small lead over the Dutch team. Calgary's Yuri Kisil was next, but during his 20.99 leg, the Netherlands overtook him to take the lead.
The Netherlands continued to lead after Kayla Sanchez of Scarborough, Ont., swam her leg in a time of 23.51. It was team anchor and London Ont., native Maggie Mac Neil's time of 23.11 that powered Canada to the top of the podium. Heat swimmers, Rebecca Smith of Red Deer, Alta., and Katerine Savard of Pont-Rouge, Que. also received medals.
WATCH | Mac Neil anchors Canada to mixed relay gold:
"Anchor is always stressful," Mac Neil said. "I knew there were a lot of things I needed to fix after the medley relay final and with an outside lane I knew we had a pretty good shot. It was all about putting together a perfect race."
Earlier on Friday, Kylie Masse, of La Salle, Ont., won silver in the 100-metre backstroke.
Masse finished the final in 26.69 while Sweden's Louise Hansson claimed gold in 26.45. American swimmer Katherine Berkoff finished third with a time of 55.40.
"I'm really pleased with it," Masse said. "It was a best time by a long shot, I haven't been that fast in a while. It was a super tight finish, Louise is a great swimmer and to be super close to her at a worlds is amazing."
WATCH | Masse swims to silver in 100m backstroke:
