Penny Oleksiak, Kylie Masse, and Hilary Caldwell were in the spotlight for Canada at the world aquatics championships in Budapest on Saturday.
In the first race of the day, Oleksiak eclipsed her own Canadian record and finished fifth with a time of 25.62 in the 50-metre butterfly.
This followed the Torontonian’s performance in the semifinal on Friday in which the 17-year-old clocked 25.66 to top the record she had set in Barcelona in June.
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom swam a championship record mark of 24.60 to win the race, Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands was second with a time of 25.38, while Egypt’s Farida Osman rounded out the podium in 25.39.
Caldwell, Masse miss the mark
Later, Masse and Caldwell competed in the 200 backstroke, finishing fifth and sixth, respectively. Caldwell entered the final lap of the race in third place, but fell back and finished in two minutes, 7.15 seconds. Masse, who captured gold in the 100 backstroke earlier this week, posted a time of 2:07.04.
Emily Seebohm of Australia won the race with a time of 2:05.68, Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu was second in 2:05.85, and American Kathleen Baker placed third in 2:06.48
Masse admitted to being a bit tired, but was focused on the task at hand.
“I knew it was going to be super close, so I just really tried to hammer home the last 50 [metres],” said Masse, who also earned bronze in the 4×100 mixed relay on Wednesday.
Rachel Nicol will compete for Canada in the 50 breaststroke final on Sunday after an eighth-place finish in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Canadians Michelle Toro and Sandrine Mainville were both unable to advance to the final of the 50 freestyle, while Javier Acevedo also did not advance to the 50 backstroke final.
Saturday’s competition will conclude with Canada competing in the 4×100 mixed relay for which the team qualified with the third fastest time.
