Oleksiak, Canada win relay gold at world junior swimming championships

INDIANAPOLIS — Canada won gold in the women’s 4×200-metre freestyle relay on Wednesday during the opening day of the FINA world junior championships.

Olympic star Penny Oleksiak along with Kayla Sanchez, Rebecca Smith and Taylor Ruck finished in a world junior record seven minutes 51.47 seconds — nearly six second faster than second place Russia.

“Going into the race we were all pretty confident with what times we could go and to come out with the gold medal and a world junior record is pretty awesome,” said Oleksiak, who helped the senior team win two relay bronze medals at the FINA world championships in Budapest, Hungary, last month.

Sanchez and Smith also swam for the Canadians at the senior worlds. All four women train together at the Swimming Canada High Performance Centre in Toronto.

Mabel Zavaros, who helped the team qualify through morning heats as top seed, will also receive a gold medal.

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Ruck recorded a world junior record time earlier in the day in the 100 backstroke semifinals, finishing in 59.28 seconds. The final is on Thursday.

The Canadian Press