Ingrid Wilm of Canada starts in her heat of the women's 200m backstroke during the world swimming short course championships in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)(AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)
(AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Ingrid Wilm wins a pair of gold medals at Mare Nostrum Swim Tour 

Canadian swimmers continued their medal-winning ways in Monaco at the final stretch of the Mare Nostrum Swim Tour.

Ingrid Wilm captured the women’s 100m backstroke gold medal after posting a time of 59.83 seconds on Sunday. She was the only swimmer to stop the clock in less than one minute edging out Poland’s Adela Piskorska (1:00.03) by 0.92 seconds. France’s Pauline Mahieu (1:00.18) took the bronze medal.

Later in the day, Wilm secured another gold medal in the women’s 50m backstroke duel event. Her time of 27.37 seconds was faster than her opponent, Czech swimmer Simona Kubova.

Wilm has won a total of four gold medals during the 2023 Mare Nostrum Swim Tour. The backstroke specialist won gold in the 100m back and 50m back in Barcelona. She also won silver in the 50m back and bronze in the 100m back in France. 

After capturing a silver medal on Saturday, Mary-Sophie Harvey returned on day two for another silver medal performance. In the women’s 200m individual medley, she clocked a time of 2:09.75. Israel’s Anastasia Gorbenko (2:09.28) finished with the gold medal and Japan’s Mio Narita (2:12.95) rounded out the podium with bronze. 

Emma O’Croinin swam to a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle final. The 19-year-old Canadian touched the wall in 4:16.59 behind Agostina Hein of Argentina (4:09.94) and Japan’s Ruka Takezawa (4:14.26).

On the men’s side, 17-year-old Lorne Wigginton finished the 400m IM with the bronze medal. He clocked a time of 4:19.27 to finish behind two Japanese swimmers. Tomoyuki Matsushita (4:12.53) and Riku Yamaguchi (4:13.51) won gold and silver, respectively. 

In other Canadian results, Aiden Norman narrowly missed the 200m backstroke podium, finishing fourth. In the men’s 100m backstroke, James Dergousoff finished in sixth place. Ruslan Gaziev finished eight in the men’s 200m freestyle. 

After swimming to gold on Saturday, Katerine Savard was sixth in the women’s 100m freestyle on Sunday. 

Katerine Savard’s gold leads Canada’s five-medal haul on Saturday

Canadians were back in racing mode on the first day of the final stop of the Mare Nostrum Swim Tour in Monaco. Katerine Savard led a five-medal haul for Canada with Finlay Knox, Mary-Sophie Harvey, Ruslan Gaziev and Brooklyn Douthwright collecting a medal each on Saturday.

Katerine Savard swam to a gold medal in the women’s 100m butterfly event. The Olympic bronze medallist posted a time of 58.25 seconds to finish ahead of Sweden’s Sara Junevik (58.79) and Hungary’s Dalma Sebestyen (59.52). 

In the women’s 200m freestyle final, two Canadians earned a spot on the podium. Mary-Sophie Harvey secured the silver medal after touching the wall in 1 minute and 57.75 seconds. Brooklyn Douthwright finished with bronze and a time of 1:58.59. Siobhan-Bernadette Haughey of Hong Kong took gold with a meeting record of 1:55.03. 

On the men’s side, Ruslan Gaziev kicked off Team Canada’s medal haul with a silver in the men’s 100m freestyle, clocking 48.78 seconds. Japan’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto edged out the Canadian by 0.17 for first place.

Finlay Knox also landed on the podium, finishing with silver and a time of 2:00.31 in the men’s 200m individual medley final. Once again, Japan’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto (1:59.64) captured the top prize.

In other Canadian results, Sophie Angus was seventh in the women’s 50m breaststroke event and Lorne Wigginton was sixth in the men’s 200m medley.