Athlete of the Week: Ryan Cochrane

Ryan Cochrane made history at the 15th FINA World Championships in Barcelona, becoming the first Canadian swimmer to win six career world championship medals, all of them in individual events.

Cochrane’s first medal of the competition was bronze in the 800m freestyle. In an exciting final, he came just one-tenth of a second shy of the silver medal. It is Cochrane’s third straight world championship medal in the non-Olympic event, following bronze in 2009 and silver in 2011.

He closed with his third straight world championship silver in the 1500m freestyle, finishing behind China’s Sun Yang, the reigning Olympic champion in the event. The 1500m freestyle has been Cochrane’s bread and butter. He won Olympic silver in the event at London 2012, having won bronze at his first Games in 2008.

Cochrane’s week began with a fourth place finish in the 400m freestyle, when he missed the podium by just 0.17 of a second. It was a still career best result, coming after fifth and seventh place finishes in 2011 and 2009, respectively.

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