McIntosh takes silver in women's 200m freestyle; Tierney wins 100m backstroke gold at Pan Pacs

Taylor Ruck of Kelowna claims pair of bronze medals on Day 1 in Irvine, Calif.

Toronto's Summer McIntosh opened her race schedule at the Pan Pacific swimming championships Wednesday night with a second-place finish outdoors in the women's 200-metre freestyle in Irvine, Calif.

The 19-year-old, competing at the event for the first time, touched the wall in one minute 53.86 seconds, nearly 2-10ths behind Australia's Lani Pallister, who clocked a championship record 1:53.67. Erika Fairweather of New Zealand was third, covering four lengths of the pool at William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center in 1:55.05.

"She hasn't raced the [200 free often] because she's been so busy breaking world records in all the other [events]. She's so good that you're not going to keep Summer McIntosh down," said CBC Sports analyst Byron MacDonald. "She's got the ability to get better and better. She'll learn from this."

Pallister led McIntosh by 4-100ths of a second after 50 metres but the Canadian grabbed the lead through 100 by 12-100ths. McIntosh tried to maintain the advantage through 150 metres but Pallister went ahead by 9-100ths.

"She tried to make a move on the third length but couldn't pull away. Pallister was having nothing to do with it," MacDonald said. "Summer hasn't raced [the 200] at a big meet since 2023 [and] didn't execute the way she wanted.

WATCH | McIntosh swims to silver in 200m freestyle final:"In 2023, she was expected to win at the world championships, was [dealt an upset loss by Australia's Mollie O'Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus] and that was a learning lesson, and she got better. Now, she's going to have to learn from this one."

Before Wednesday, McIntosh hadn't raced the 200 free on the international stage since the 2023 world championships.

"Training for 200 freestyle kind of naturally worked into my training schedule on a weekly basis because I'm a 400 freestyler," she told CBC Sports' Devin Heroux this week. "It just kind of matches with events perfectly, to be honest."

McIntosh, who opted not to race the 200 butterfly on Wednesday, will also swim the 200 individual medley, 400 free and 400 IM in Irvine.

She qualified for the 200 free final in 1:55.85 after mentioning this week she would like to stop the clock in 1:52. The retired Titmus has held the world record of 1:52.23 since the Australian Olympics trials on June 12, 2024.

WATCH | McIntosh breaks down silver-winning 200m free race:McIntosh holds four individual long-course (50m pool) world marks in the 200 butterfly, 200 IM, 400 free and 400 IM.

At the beginning of July, she took down the longest-standing women's world record at the Canadian trials in the 200 fly, dating to 2009. A day after that momentous swim in Montreal, McIntosh pulled out of the trials due to illness.

She has spent the past few weeks recovering and building toward Pan Pacs and says she's in full health.

In the women's 200 free consolation final, Brooklyn Douthwright of Riverview, N.B., was seventh in a field of eight in 1:58.86, one spot ahead of Edmonton's Emma O'Croinin (1:58.93).

Blake Tierney wins gold

In the men's 100m backstroke, it was Saskatoon's Blake Tierney who came out on top.

The 24-year-old leveraged a strong finish to take gold in a time of 53.18 seconds, edging out Will Modglin (53.37) and Jack Aikins (53.46).

"I don't know if I can really take it all in right now ... I think looking back I'll definitely be happy with it," Tierney told CBC Sports' Devin Heroux after the race.

"Not the best time or anything, but pretty close. I think I got the closing speed. I don't know what I split but still a lot of work I can do.

WATCH | Tierney takes gold in men's 100m backstroke:It is the first international gold medal of Tierney's career.

"I had a good year of training. Training pays off," Tierney said.

Tierney is the Canadian record holder in the event with a best-time of 52.95.

Ruck races to 2 bronze

Taylor Ruck kicked off the Canadian medal count with a third-place finish in the women's 50m butterfly final.

The 26-year-old from Kelowna touched the wall in a time of 25.23 seconds to win bronze and set a Canadian record.

WATCH | Ruck earns 50m butterfly bronze:Ruck lowered her previous Canadian record, set in the prelims, taking off four tenths from her time of 25.61 on Thursday morning.

She placed behind Americans Kate Douglass (25.06), who won silver, and Gretchen Walsh, whose 24.65 time was a championship record.

Later in the competition, the four-time Olympic medallist added another bronze in the 100m backstroke final.

WATCH | Ruck adds 2nd bronze of the day in 100m backstroke final:Ruck swam to a time of 58.40, placing behind Americans Katharine Berkoff (57.93) and winner Regan Smith (58.11).

"I think the energy was just there. I had a good talk with my coach beforehand and yeah I just felt, felt like the energy was just getting channelled right," Ruck told CBC Sports after the backstroke final.

"I had a lot of fun with it too and uh found the competition to just yea, get things right."