Canadian swim relay teams qualify for Olympic medley finals | CBC Sports

The Canadian men’s and women’s medley relay teams advanced to the swim finals at the Olympic Games in Paris on Saturday.

Ingrid Wilm, Sophie Angus, Mary-Sophie Harvey and Penny Oleksiak posted the second-quickest qualifying time in a race of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle in that order.

Blake Tierney, Finlay Knox, Ilya Kharun and Javier Acevedo combined for the seventh-fastest qualifying time among the eight countries advancing to the men’s final.

Sunday’s medley relays will conclude nine days of Olympic swimming, but several Canadians were still in the podium hunt in Saturday’s finals.

Summer McIntosh chased a fourth medal and a third gold in the women’s 200-metre medley with Sydney Pickrem joining her in the final.

Josh Liendo and Kharun were to race the 100-metre butterfly. Canada also reached the mixed relay final.

Ruck moves on to semis

Taylor Ruck of Kelowna, B.C., has advanced to the women’s semifinals in her first Olympic 50m freestyle competition.

The 24-year-old touched the wall in 24.57 seconds, tying Wu Qingfeng of China for third in their heat and eighth of 16 swimmers for Saturday’s semifinals at 2:39 p.m. ET.

“[It was] just one lap, not a lot to worry about. I’m definitely excited for [the] semis,” Ruck told Devin Heroux of CBC Sports.

“I’m super grateful to be here [and my teammates] just inspire me so much to give it all in the pool. Feeling that energy from the crowd, from your teammates, you couldn’t ask for more.”

Sarah Sjoestroem of Sweden was the top qualifier in 23.85.

The Olympic record in the event is held by Australia’s Emma McKeon (23.81) from July 31, 2021 in Tokyo.

She qualified for the 50 free in Paris with a 25.14 effort at Canadian trials in May and was fifth at the World Aquatics Championships earlier this year.