Canadian Sydney Pickrem wins bronze medal in 400 individual medley at worlds
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Sydney Pickrem won Canada’s fourth medal of the FINA world championships on Sunday, earning bronze in the women’s 400-metre individual medley.
Pickrem, of Clearwater, B.C. secured third place with a personal best time of four minutes 32.88 seconds — the second-fastest in Canadian history. She vaulted onto the podium a year after her 12th-place finish in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
“It means the world to me, it’s the first 400 IM international level final I’ve ever made,” said Pickrem, the youngest competitor in the final at 20. “I knew when I didn’t make the final in Rio I had so much left, so to finally be able to get in at night and give it all I’ve got, a result like that means the world.”
Home crowd favourite Katinka Hosszu of Hungary won gold in a championship record 4:29.33 while Spain’s Mireia Belmonte took silver in 4:32.17.