WINDSOR, Ont. — Canada won gold in the women’s 4×50-metre freestyle relay, then took silver in the 4×100 medley relay on Sunday night at the FINA short-course world swimming championships, giving breakout Olympic star Penny Oleksiak her third and fourth medals of the meet.
The 4×50 team of Toronto’s Oleksiak and Michelle Williams, Taylor Ruck of Kelowna, B.C., and Sandrine Mainville of Boucherville, Que., finished first in one minute 35 seconds.
"A gold medal just is amazing every time. It just keeps getting better and better," said Ruck.
The Netherlands earned silver in 1:35.37 while Italy took bronze in 1:35.61.
The gold was Canada’s second at the meet after the women’s 4×200 freestyle relay took top spot on the podium Saturday night. Oleksiak and Ruck were part of that relay.
"We were just kind of riding the wave of excitement from last night and basically through the whole week. This was our last chance to race so we just wanted to give it all we’ve got and obviously it worked out for us," said Williams, who helped earn one of Canada’s six medals at the Rio Olympics. "We had a great summer and we came out here to sort of prove that wasn’t a fluke. Canadian swimming is on the rise."
In the 4×100 medley relay, Canada’s team of Oleksiak, Kylie Masse of Windsor, Ont., Rachel Nicol of Lethbridge, Alta., and Katerine Savard of Pont-Rouge, Que., were second in 3:48.87.
The United States won gold in 3:47.89 and Australia took bronze in 3:49.66.
Oleksiak, the 16-year-old who won four medals in her Olympic debut in Rio this summer, also won bronze earlier this week in the 100 freestyle.
Also Sunday, Regina’s Kelsey Wog won silver in the women’s 200 breaststroke and Savard finished fourth in the 100 butterfly.
