Taylor Ruck matches Canadian Commonwealth Games record with 7th medal

Teenage swimmer Taylor Ruck tied a Canadian record Monday by winning her seventh medal of the Commonwealth Games in Australia.

With her bronze in the women's 100-metre freestyle, Ruck, 17, grabbed a piece of the national single-Games mark for a woman, which has stood for 52 years. Elaine Tanner set the record in 1966 in Jamaica.

Swimming Wrap: Taylor Ruck ties Canadian record with historic medal haul

7 years ago

Duration 1:33

Ruck's bronze in the 100m freestyle final was her 7th of the Commonwealth Games, tying the Canadian women's record held by Elaine Tanner

"Really? I didn't even know that," Ruck said when told she'd tied the record. "I'm just so humbled to be able to tie with Elaine Tanner. She's an amazing person and I look up to her a lot."

Ruck will have a chance to win an eighth medal on Tuesday, the final day of swimming competition. She's expected to compete for the Canadian team in the women's 4x100 medley relay final at 7:43 a.m. ET. If she reaches the podium, she'll match the record for most medals at a single Commonwealth Games by any athlete, man or woman. That mark is shared by three swimmers: Canada's Ralph Hutton (1966) and Australians Susie O'Neill (1998) and Emily Seebohm (2010).

"I'm in awe," Ruck said. "I didn't really expect to get all these medals so I'm really humbled, honoured and proud to call myself a Canadian."

• Taylor Ruck is Canada's next swim sensation

Ruck, who was born in Kelowna, B.C., and grew up in Arizona with her Canadian parents, now has a gold, four silver and a pair of bronze at these Games. The gold came in the 200-metre freestyle, where she set both a Canadian and Commonwealth Games record in the final.

Ruck already owns a pair of Olympic relay medals from 2016 and is positioning herself as the Canadian swimmer to watch leading up to the 2020 Games. At the 2017 world junior championships she won six gold medals (including one individual, in the 200 free) and added a silver in the 100 backstroke. She also helped Canada win a pair of relay gold medals at the 2016 short-course worlds.

Penny falls short

Penny Oleksiak, the reigning Olympic co-champion in the women's 100 free, finished fifth in that event Monday, 0.77 of a second behind Ruck's bronze-winning time. Australian sisters Bronte and Cate Campbell won gold and silver, respectively.

Oleksiak, 17, has not won an individual medal at the Commonwealth Games. The 2016 Olympic sensation has a pair of relay silvers that she won along with Ruck.

Canada picked up a second medal in the pool Monday when Kierra Smith took silver in the women's 100 breaststroke.

Canadians 1-2 in decathlon

Canada has a shot to land two athletes on the decathlon podium as Damian Warner and Pierce LePage are first and second, respectively, at the halfway mark of the event.

• Canada's Warner, LePage top decathlon at halfway mark

Warner, the defending champion and 2016 Olympic bronze medallist, finished the day with 4,509 points through five events. He had the best 100-metre time and placed second in three other events.

LePage closed the day on a high note by winning the high jump and the 400 metres and trails Warner by 129 points.

The final five events go Tuesday.

Medal count

Canada captured five medals on Day 5 of competition and now has 37 total. That trails only host Australia (106) and England (63), though Canada ranks sixth in gold medals with seven. Australia (39), England (22), India (10), New Zealand and South Africa (eight each) have more.

The Canadian team's goal is to win 100 medals by the end of competition on Sunday.

Here's a breakdown of Canada's Day 5 medals:

Gold

• None

Silver

• Swimming: Kierra Smith — women's 100m breaststroke
• Gymnastics: Cory Paterson — men's high bar

Bronze

• Swimming: Taylor Ruck — women's 100m freestyle
• Track and field: Tim Nedow — men's shot put
• Gymnastics: Shallon Olsen — women's floor