The world championships are off to a record-setting start for Finlay Knox.
The Okotoks swimmer, a two-time Olympian, broke his own Canadian record in the 200m IM with a time of 1:50.90 on Tuesday to secure the bronze medal at the Short Course World Aquatics Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
“Post-Olympics, everyone’s in different spots, and I know myself, I took a lot longer of a break than I usually do,” said Knox, the reigning long-course champion in the event, in a Swimming Canada release. “Going into this competition, I wasn’t maybe as fit as I should be, but the overarching thing with all competitions is if you’re there mentally. I made sure to go in there mentally as tough as I could be, and put down the best performance I could on the night.
“It was a little long on the touch, two one-hundredths off silver, but to get back on the podium at the first major competition since the Olympics, I’m pretty happy.”
Knox, a finalist in the 200m IM and in the relay events at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games, was the world champion in long course (50m) in the spring in the 200m IM.
The Okotoks Mavericks Swimming alumnus, a student at the University of British Columbia, trains out of the Scott Talbot at the High Performance Centre-Vancouver.
In addition to Knox, Summer McIntosh set a world record with gold in the 400m freestyle, Mary-Sophie Harvey won bronze in 400m freestyle with McIntosh, Harvey, Penny Oleksiak and Ingrid Wilm teaming up for bronze in the 4x100m freestyle relay.