Katarina Roxon, Canadian relay team shine on final day of para swim championships
Canada added two more medals to its tally on the final day of the world para swimming championships in London, England on Sunday.
Katarina Roxon's won silver and the women's relay team swam to bronze, as Canada finished with 14 medals overall (two gold, seven silver and five bronze).
"London has provided a fantastic opportunity to learn, to grow and to perform," said Wayne Lomas, Swimming Canada's associate director of high performance and para swimming national coach following the competition.
"With less than a year until the first swim of the Tokyo Paralympics, every swimmer and coach now has a much clearer view about what they need to focus on in order to achieve their Paralympic dreams."
Roxon delivers
Roxon got things rolling with a silver in her specialty event—the women's 100-metre breastroke.
The second-place finish marked the 26-year-old's best individual result in five world championship appearances.
The native of Kippens, N.L., posted a time of one minute, 21.96 seconds. It's her third fastest time ever, and Roxon's best result since Rio 2016, where she set the national mark of one minute, 19.44 seconds.
WATCH | Katarina Roxon wins silver in 100m breaststroke
The only opponent to beat Roxon to the wall was Great Britain's Brock Whiston, who broke her own world record with a blistering one minue, 13.83 seconds.
"It's such a good feeling. I'm very excited. Coming into this, I really wanted to get a medal" said Roxon.
"This place [London] has been very special in my career. In 2012, I came into those Games very nervous, I put a lot of pressure on myself, and I didn't perform at all like I wanted. So these Worlds were kind of my second chance to make things right, and to be able to stand on the podium tonight in this venue is very special."
The silver-winning performance also helped Roxon become the latest member of the 18-swimmer contingent to earn a nomination to represent Canada next summer in Tokyo.
Bronze-medal performance
Roxon also contributed to Canada's second highlight of the night—a bronze in the women's 4x100 freestyle.
Along with teammates Abi Tripp of Kingston, Ont.; Aurélie Rivard of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.; and Tess Routliffe of Caledon, Ont., the Canadians fended off a tough challenge from the Chinese to finish third with a time of four minutes, 30.09 seconds.
WATCH | Canada finishes 3rd in the women's 4x100m freestyle:
Routliffe, who was competing in her first world championships, credited Rivard for getting the team into a winning position.
"Aurélie just set me up perfectly. She caught up to everybody."
Going in third, Rivard overcame four rivals to put Canada in the lead at the 300-metre mark. Routliffe took it from there, holding off a furious charge from China in the final 50.
"I'm grateful that our coaches thought I could do this. It was an honour to be chosen as the anchor," said Routliffe.
It was Rivard's fifth medal of the week. The 23-year-old also won bronze on Saturday, in the women's 100 backstroke S10 final.
Earlier in the week, Rivard earned gold in the 50 and 100 freestyle, while also netting a silver in the 400 free.
