Pickrem’s bronze caps Canada’s four-medal showing at worlds
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY— Sydney Pickrem won Canada’s fourth medal of the world aquatics championships on Sunday, earning bronze in the women’s 400-metre individual medley.
Pickrem, of Clearwater, B.C. secured third place with a personal best time of four minutes 32.88 seconds — the second-fastest in Canadian history. She vaulted onto the podium a year after her 12th-place finish in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
“It means the world to me, it’s the first 400 IM international level final I’ve ever made,” said Pickrem, the youngest competitor in the final at 20. “I knew when I didn’t make the final in Rio I had so much left, so to finally be able to get in at night and give it all I’ve got, a result like that means the world.”
Home crowd favourite Katinka Hosszu of Hungary won gold in a championship record 4:29.33 while Spain’s Mireia Belmonte took silver in 4:32.17.
Pickrem had been ranked third entering Monday’s 200 individual medley final but had to stop after 50 metres after taking on water during the butterfly leg.
“The emotions have definitely taken a toll,” Pickrem said.
“It’s been a learning process, and luckily it came out the most positive it could have. I felt like I let down Canada in the 200 IM so to be able to go out there and get on the podium means a lot.”
Later Sunday, Canada narrowly missed the podium in the women’s 4x100 medley relay. The team featuring Penny Oleksiak, Kylie Masse, Kierra Smith and Chantal van Landeghem finished fourth in a Canadian record time of 3:54.86.
Canada matched its medal total from the Kazan 2015 world aquatics championships with four medals.