Canada's Markus Thormeyer claims gold at the FINA Champions Swim Series
Sydney Pickrem adds silver in the women's 200-metre medley
Canada's Markus Thormeyer claimed gold in the 200-metre backstroke at the FINA Champions Swim Series in Shenzhen, China.
Thormeyer, 22, of Newmarket, Ont., led the way with a time of one minute and 59.02 seconds, ahead of Hungary's Adam Telegdy (1:59.15) and American Jacob Pebley (1:59:95).
It's Thormeyer's second medal in China after winning bronze in yesterday's 100 backstroke.
"It was pretty nice to get up and race in early January against the best in the world," Thormeyer said. "It wasn't easy but I still did the best I could and walked away with a win which I'm super proud of. Hopefully I can build off this for the rest of the year leading into the Olympic trials in March and April."
WATCH | Markus Thormeyer swim to gold at FINA Champions Swim Series in China:
Another Canadian podium finish in China was added when Sydney Pickrem grabbed silver in the women's 200 medley at 2:10.84.
Hungarian Katinka Hosszu (2:10.42) finished with gold ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympian. China's Shiwen Ye (2:12.25) joined the 22-year-old on the podium with bronze.
The FINA Champions Swim Series is in its second season. It uses a new format in which races only have finals of four competitors each.
According to the FINA website, the field is made up of the Olympic and world championships medallists and finalists, the top overall ranked swimmers from the FINA Swimming World Cup and the best in the FINA World rankings in each discipline.
The FINA Champions Swim Series circuit resumes Jan.18-19. in Beijing.
With files from Canadian Press