Ruck wins medal No. 8 in Australia
Canadian teen swimmer’s notable haul equals Commonwealth Games record
Canadian teenage swimmer Taylor Ruck wrapped up a fairy-tale Commonwealth Games on Tuesday with a record-tying eighth medal — a silver in the 4x100-metre medley relay — then returned to reality at the athletes village. Making history on the international sports stage apparently doesn’t cut you any slack when it comes to an online English exam scheduled for the day after. A beaming Ruck, still processing her bumper medal haul of one gold, five silver and two bronze, didn’t seem to mind after a breakthrough six-day competition that saw her win medals in all eight of her events.
“Not in my wildest dreams,” said the 17-year-old from Kelowna, B.C., when asked if she had expected so much hardware.
But Ruck, who won two relay bronze at the Rio Olympics, had served notice she was something special with some eye-popping times over the last year. “Coming into the competition, I was really excited to see what would come out of it,” she said. “Looking back at all my races and relays, I’m just so happy with how everything was.”
Ruck joins Canadian Ralph Hutton and Australians Susie O’Neill and Emily Seebohm as the only athletes to win eight medals at a Commonwealth Games. Thanks to a four-medal showing Tuesday, Canadian swimmers finished the meet with 20 medals — three gold, 10 silver and seven bronze — including five in paraswimming events. Four years ago, Canadian swimmers won 11 (4-1-6) in Glasgow.
Rio hero Penny Oleksiak leaves with three medals and some disappointment. The 17-year-old from Toronto won three relay silvers, but failed to make a mark in her individual events. Oleksiak was fourth in the 50 and 100 butterfly, fifth in the 100 freestyle and seventh in the 200 free.
The spotlight has been on Oleksiak since she became the first Canadian to win four medals at a single Summer Games. In Rio, she tied for gold in the 100 freestyle, claimed silver in the 100 butterfly and two bronze in the relays. Oleksiak acknowledged Tuesday that the Rio success has required some adjustments.
“I think the last few years were still kind of trying to figure out my life after Rio and sort out what I wanted to do,” she said. “And this year was like, I’m just going to take a year for myself and just kind of sort stuff out.
“I mean, I wasn’t too impressed with my performances at this meet. But that doesn’t mean I can’t go up from here and that doesn’t mean I can’t start preparing for the (2020) Olympics.”
Kylie Masse of Windsor, Ont., was runner-up in the 50 backstroke and was part of the silver medallist relay team to add to the two golds she had won previously in the 100 and 200 backstroke. The games were a success for Masse, who came in with a target on her back after winning 100 backstroke at last year’s world championship in world-record time.
Meanwhile, as expected, Canada won a decathlon medal at the Commonwealth Games.
But it was Pierce LePage of Whitby, Ont., who climbed the podium to collect a silver behind Grenada’s Lindon Victor after defending champion Damian Warner pulled out after failing to clear a height in the pole vault.
The Canadian star, who had been leading after seven events, plummeted to sixth place after scoring zero points in the pole vault. His medal chances gone, he did not start the javelin — the penultimate event of the competition.
“He is OK, obviously very disappointed,” said Les Gramantik, Warner’s coach. “We didn’t come here to watch the event on TV. We are here to compete, that’s the only thing that matters. Damian is OK, just keeping to himself.”
The 28-year-old from London, Ont., who now makes his home in Calgary, missed three pole vault attempts at 4.50 metres. His personal best is 4.90 metres.
“I wish I could explain exactly what happened,” Gramantik said. Victor, who set the NCAA decathlon record last year competing for Texas, won with 8,303 points, ahead of LePage’s personal best of 8,171. Australian Cedric Dubler was third at 7,983.
The 22-year-old LePage’s previous top score was 8,027.
“For me, this is a huge stepping stone going from local competitions to a big event like the Commonwealth Games,” said LePage, adding Warner will be back. Warner has had his share of bad luck. He finished fifth at last year’s world track and field championships in London after being laid low by a stomach bug.
“I know from experience that when something like that happens it’s best to leave him alone,” LePage said. “He’s a world-class athlete who I’m sure will bounce back and do even better.” Canada also collected a gold and bronze on the track through wheelchair racers Alex Dupont of Clarenceville, Que., and Diane Roy of Sherbrooke, Que. Elsewhere, Canadian Robert Pitcairn, at 79 the oldest competitor in the history of the Commonwealth Games, finished eighth Tuesday in the Queen’s Prize Pairs shooting finals.
Pitcairn, from Chilliwack, B.C., and teammate Nicole Rossignol of Quebec City had been ninth after the first day of the full-bore shooting competition final Monday. At 79 years and nine months old, Pitcairn broke the record previously held by England’s Doreen Flanders, who took part in lawn bowls at Glasgow in 2014 a few weeks after her 79th birthday.
Coming into the competition, I was really excited to see what would come out of it. Looking back at all my races and relays, I’m just so happy with how everything was.