Oleksiak swims to three medals and a world junior record in France
Just shy of her 16th birthday, Penny Oleksiak won three medals at the Mare Nostrum meet in France, while breaking her world junior 50m butterfly record in the process.
Oleksiak, who turns 16 on Monday, was the first swimmer to touch the wall in the 100m freestyle on Thursday, stopping the clock at 53.49 seconds. The Canadian beat Denmark’s double world medallist, Jeanette Ottesen (53.66s) and London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist, Charlotte Bonnet (54.03s) at the Mare Nostrum meet in Canet-en-Roussillon, France.
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Penelope (Penny) Oleksiak at the 2016 national Olympic swimming trials after the 100-metre butterfly on April 5, 2016 (Photo: Scott Grant via Swimming Canada).
Oleksiak went on to break her world junior record of 25.97s in the 50m butterfly, by racing to a time of 25.93s. Her record breaking performance earned the Canadian bronze in Canet-en-Roussillon, behind Ottesen (25.50s) of Denmark and Sweden’s Therese Alshammar (25.87s).
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Kierra Smith, also climbed the podium in France, with the second fastest time in a tight 200m breaststroke final, swimming to two minutes 24.42s. The Canadian’s time was almost two seconds faster than her gold medal time of 2:26:54s from last weekend in Monaco. Smith finished between winner Moller Pedersen (2:24.06s) and Japan’s Kanako Watanabe (2:25.33s)
Kierra Smith of Kelowna, BC (Photo: Scott Grant).
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Chantal van Landeghem added another silver for Canada in the 50m freestyle. Her time of 24.68s was second to Ottesen’s 24.64s, who won with 24.64s. Sweden’s Therese Alshammar finished third in 24.75s.
June 8
On Wednesday, Oleksiak finished second in the 100m butterfly (57.44s), behind Ottesen who won with 57.40s. Germany’s Alexandra Wenk completed the podium in 58.15s.
The third and final stop on the Mare Nostrum circuit will begin on Saturday in Barcelona, Spain.
