An Okotoks swimming star has hit new heights Down Under.
Okotoks Mavericks alumnus Finlay Knox smashed his own Canadian record in the 200m individual medley (IM) to take home the bronze medal to kickstart a two medal week at the FINA 2022 Short Course World Swimming Championships on Dec. 13 in Melbourne, Australia.
“Finals is the easy part. Go in there and race as hard as you can. That's why I love racing," said Knox, in a Swimming Canada release. "That's why I wake up every morning and push myself. At the very end of the day when you step up on those blocks, you just go and you have fun.
“That's what I did tonight and came away with a bronze medal."
Knox finished in a time of 1:51.04 seconds in the individual medley final, with a time of 1:52.50 in the preliminaries.
In the final, South Africa’s Matt Sates and American Carson Foster touched the wall just ahead of Knox to round out the podium.
“It feels nice, but to see how close I was to second and to see how big the gap was with first I’ve still got work to do. That’s behind me and I’m just at the beginning,” Knox said.
The 200m IM final can be viewed at the following CBC Sports link.
The 200m individual medley, encompassing all four strokes of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle, has long been the signature event for the 21-year-old.
On Dec. 16, Knox doubled his medal output at worlds.
In a Canadian dominated event, Knox earned another bronze medal in the individual medley, this time in the 100m sprint, finishing behind teammate Javier Acevedo in second and Italy’s Thomas Ceccon in first.
Both Knox and Acevedo finished below the latter’s previous Canadian record time, with Knox touching the wall in 51.10 seconds.
The bronze medals represent his first individual podium finishes at a major international event at the senior level.
Knox and Acevedo then formed half of Canada’s 4x200m freestyle relay team along with Ruslan Gasiev and Ilya Kharun. The foursome finished seventh in the event in 6:56.02. Knox swam the leadoff leg and did so in a personal best time of 1:43.96.
Earlier this year, Knox swam to relay bronze at the Commonwealth Games.
He also competed in the 200m IM at the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan, where he finished 17th and just missed out on qualification for the semifinals.
The FINA 2022 Short Course World Championships proved to be a banner week for the Canadian contingent.
Canadian superstar Maggie Mac Neil swam to a pair of world records en route to Best Female Swimmer Award honours at the short course event.
Canada won 14 medals in Australia, three gold, four silver and seven bronze.
In terms of medals, it was the second most productive short course worlds event ever for Canada. The team also set a new benchmark with 30 qualifications into finals.
For more information, visit swimming.ca.
