Tierney’s first international gold leads Canada’s 5 medal night at Pan Pacific Championships
Canada kicked off the 2026 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships on Wednesday night with an impressive five medals in the pool in Irvine, California.
While Summer McIntosh came just shy of the victory in the women’s 200m freestyle, Blake Tierney had a breakthrough moment in the men’s 100m backstroke, winning his first international gold medal.
Tierney, a 24-year-old from Saskatoon, edged out American Will Modglin in a tight finish that came down to the final lunge for the wall. Tierney clocked in at 53.18, touching 0.19 ahead of Modglin. That time is about a quarter of a second slower than the national record he set at last year’s World Aquatics Championships.
“I think when I look back on this, I’ll be pretty happy. It was not a best time, but pretty close,” said Tierney. “There is still a lot of work I can do on it. I’m happy with how that went.”
Tierney added that he was a little thrown off by the lights reflecting off the splashing water. He had never trained in an outdoor pool at night before, let alone race in those conditions. But he succeeded in working through those difficulties.
“Training pays off. There were lots of ups and downs this year, but at the end of the day I had a good year of training and it’s coming together,” he said.
Meanwhile, McIntosh was racing in her first international 200m freestyle race since the 2023 World Aquatics Championships. In the final, she ended up in a tough battle with Australian Lani Pallister, who out-touched the Canadian by just 0.19 for the gold medal. McIntosh posted a time of 1:53.86 to easily take the silver medal over another Australian, Erika Fairweather.
“I’m just getting back into the 200 free and have so much more than that,” said McIntosh, just a few days away from her 20th birthday. “It’s disappointing, but I got to learn from it. I have to look back on my splits. I think I was just overthinking it rather than just racing. Tonight just wasn’t the night for me.”
This is McIntosh’s first time competing at the Pan Pacific Championships, which are usually held every four years in a year without the Olympic Games or World Aquatics Championships. The competition features athletes from countries outside of Europe, which has its own continental championships. The Pan Pacific Championships were last held in 2018. The 2022 edition was cancelled after the COVID-19 pandemic led to a reshuffling of the international competition calendar.
Taylor Ruck stood on three podiums on Wednesday night. After breaking the national record in the women’s 50m butterfly during the preliminary heats, she lowered it once more in the final. Ruck earned the bronze medal with her time of 25.23, which dropped 0.38 off her previous Canadian record. American Gretchen Walsh won the gold in 24.65.
A little while later, Ruck swam to bronze in the women’s 100m backstroke, posting a time of 58.40 to finish behind Americans Katharine Berkoff (57.93) and world record holder Regan Smith (58.11).
“I went out pretty fast. The last 25 I felt the legs a little bit. I definitely went out for it. I wanted it,” said Ruck.
She closed out the evening by anchoring Canada to the bronze medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay. That team also included Ingrid Wilm, Oliver Dawson, and Finlay Knox. Their time of 3:43.22 put them ahead of a second Canadian team—composed of Tierney, Alexanne Lepage, Mary-Sophie Harvey, and Ruslan Gaziev—for the last spot on the podium.
“It was super exciting. We had the two Canadian teams and it could have gone either way between the two teams because both were equally strong,” said Knox.
The gold medal was won by an American quartet that set a world record time of 3:36.70. Australia was second in 3:39.30.
The Pan Pacific Championships continue through Saturday. You can catch the action on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.
