Canada boosted its medal total at the Para swimming world championships with a flourish on Friday.
Danielle Dorris won the women’s S7 50-metre butterfly event just ahead of fellow Canadian Tess Routliffe, while Nicholas Bennett dominated en route to top spot in the men’s SM14 200 individual medley and Shelby Newkirk and Nicolas-Guy Turbide each scored bronze medals.
Dorris, Routliffe and Bennett now each have two gold medals and one silver at the meet in Manchester, England. Canada sits at 15 total medals through five days of action with eight gold, three silver and four bronze.
Dorris’ winning time of 33.98 seconds broke the championship record she set last year.
“Being able to do that I feel very happy,” the Moncton, N.B., native said. “I think my ending went well [in today’s race]. I think I was able to speed up enough to aid the fact that my start was pretty long … along with my underwaters are always pretty good in my eyes.”
WATCH | Dorris, Routliffe top podium:
Danielle Dorris of Moncton, N.B. won her second gold medal while Tess Routliffe of Caledon, Ont., captured silver in the women’s 50-metre butterfly at the 2023 Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester, England.
Routliffe, of Caledon, Ont., touched in a personal-best time of 35.14 seconds, while American Julia Gaffney was just behind in 36.86 for bronze.
“It was really good to have a teammate to race,” said Routliffe. “We threw down the best possible race we could tonight and I’m really pleased with it.”
Routliffe will next swim in the mixed 4×100 medley relay at 3:32 p.m. ET.
Bennett, 19, set a personal-best time of two minutes 7.98 seconds to win his gold medal nearly three full seconds ahead of silver medallist Rhys Darbey of England (2:10.95).
Ukraine’s Dmytro Vanzenko earned bronze at 2:11.41.
WATCH | Bennett claims 2nd gold of meet:
Nicholas Bennett of Parksville B.C., claimed the gold medal in the 200 metre individual medley SM14 with a time of 2:07.98 at the para swimming world championships in Manchester.
Bennett, of Parksville, B.C., was the youngest Canadian at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021 where he failed to reach a podium, but has quickly risen through the ranks.
On Friday, he threatened the world record of 2:07.50.
“That was just the goal, leave it all in the pool and try to get the world record or as close to is as possible. We did that. Every ounce of energy is just, like, out,” Bennett said.
Newkirk, meanwhile, claimed her second medal of the meet after winning gold in the S6 100 backstroke.
The Saskatoon native clocked a time of 34.04 seconds Friday to take bronze. Ukraine’s Anna Hontar smashed the world record to capture gold at 32.55 seconds, while China’s Yuyan Jiang scored silver at 32.90 seconds, an Asian record.
Newkirk missed the final in the event at the Tokyo Paralympics and placed fourth at last year’s worlds.
“It’s nice to finally break into that podium and I’m looking forward to getting to continue it, especially next year leading up into Paris,” Newkirk said.
WATCH | Newkirk bags bronze:
Saskatoon’s Shelby Newkirk swam to a bronze medal in the 50 metre freestyle S6 category at the para world championships in Manchester Friday.
Turbide’s podium appearance is the third of his career at worlds and first in the bronze-medal position, in addition to a pair of Paralympic medals.
The 26-year-old earned his latest medal with a time of 23.88 seconds in the men’s S13 50 freestyle. Ukraine’s Oleksii Virchenko took gold at 23.47 seconds and Uzbekistan’s Islam Azlanov snagged silver at 23.78.
Turbide’s time also marked a personal best.
“I couldn’t be happier, really. Everything went as I thought it will so I can pat myself on the shoulder and say good job,” he said.
Live coverage of the Para swimming world championships continues through Sunday on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.
WATCH | Turbide swims to bronze:
Quebec City’s Nicolas-Guy Turbide claimed para swimming world championship bronze in the 50 metre freestyle S13 race Friday in Manchester.
Team Canada
- Nicholas Bennett — Parksville, B.C.
- Katie Cosgriffe — Burlington, Ont.
- Danielle Dorris — Moncton, N.B.
- Sabrina Duchesne — Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Que.
- Alexander Elliot — Kitchener, Ont.
- Nikita Ens — Saskatoon
- Arianna Hunsicker — Surrey, B.C.
- James Leroux — Repentigny, Que.
- Angela Marina — Cambridge, Ont.
- Shelby Newkirk — Saskatoon
- Clémence Paré — Boucherville, Que.
- Aurélie Rivard — Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.
- Tess Routliffe — Caledon, Ont.
- Katarina Roxon — Kippens, N.L.
- Jessica Tinney — Scarborough, Ont.
- Abi Tripp — Kingston, Ont.
- Jordan Tucker — Guelph, Ont.
- Nicolas-Guy Turbide — Quebec City
- Philippe Vachon — Blainville, Que.
- Aly Van Wyck-Smart — Toronto
- Zach Zona — Simcoe, Ont.
