Ryan Cochrane swims to gold on final day of Pan Pacific Championships

Canada saw its medal count more than double on the last day of the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships which included 800m freestyle gold for Ryan Cochrane.

The Victoria, B.C. native touched the wall at 7:45.39, two seconds a head of Australian Mack Horton (7:47.73), to win Canada’s first gold medal on Sunday in Gold Coast, Australia.

This was Cochrane’s second medal after winning silver in the men’s 1,500m freestyle with 14:51.97, just 18/100ths of a second behind American Connor Jaeger.

Ryan Cochrane - photo via Swimming Canada

Ryan Cochrane – Credit: Swimming Canada

Brittany MacLean added to the Canadian momentum with a third place finish, shattering her own 1,500m national record with a time of 15:57.15 thus becoming the first Canadian female to swim the distance under 16 minutes.

“I’m happy to be the first Canadian female under 16 minutes, I think that’s kind of cool and I’m happy with the way I swam it.” said MacLean in a Swimming Canada release.

Brittany Maclean - Credit: Swimming Canada

Brittany MacLean – Credit: Swimming Canada

On Wednesday, the 20-year-old swimmer captured her first bronze medal while improving another one of her national records, this time during the 800m freestyle, stopping the clock at 8:20.02. MacLean was also part of the women’s 4×200-metre freestyle relay team that came in third the next day, which included Samantha Cheverton, Alyson Ackman and Emily Overholt.

Not to be outdone, Winnipeg’s Chantal Van Landeghem followed with a Canadian best of her own on Sunday, setting a new women’s 50m freestyle mark at 24.69 – also good for bronze.

Van Landeghem then went on to secure Canada’s fourth medal of the day finishing third along with Brooklynn Snodgrass, Kierra Smith and Katerine Savard in the women’s 4×100-m medley relay. The foursome combined for a time of 3:57.87.

Thanks to a strong finish, the country earned a total of seven medals during the four days of competition (one gold, one silver and five bronze).