Canada wraps worlds with record-extending 8th medal in women's 4x100m medley relay
German swimmer makes history with 1,500 free gold
In the last race of the aquatics world championships, Canada extended its national-record medal haul in the pool to eight.
The team of Kylie Masse, Sydney Pickrem, Maggie MacNeil and Penny Oleksiak won bronze in the women's 4x100-metre medley relay on Sunday in Gwangju, Korea.
The quartet finished the race in a Canadian record of three minutes 53.58 seconds, with Oleksiak anchoring and touching the wall just 0.16 seconds back of silver medallist Australia.
The U.S. set a world record to win gold after clocking in 3:50.40, fuelled by a blistering backstroke lap by Regan Smith of 57.57 seconds that achieved another world record. Smith, 17, also set a new mark in the 200 back earlier in Korea.
WATCH | Canada wins 8th and final medal at swimming worlds:
Canada's previous record medal total was six, set in 1978. Oleksiak extended her own personal record with a fifth career medal at worlds. Masse and Pickrem earned their fourth each and MacNeil her third.
All eight of Canada's medals were won by women, including two golds and six bronze. Canada also reached its most final since 1978 with with 19, two more than the 2017 worlds in Budapest.
"It's a testament to our athletes' ability to stay focused, calm and professional, and stay engaged in the championships for all eight days," said high performance director and national coach John Atkinson.
WATCH | Canadian women discuss their record performance at worlds:
Oleksiak continued her strong relay performance at worlds as she posted a split of 52.48 seconds in the freestyle anchor lap.
Canada wound up qualifying five relay teams for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Wellbrock makes history
Earlier, Florian Wellbrock of Germany made history with his victory in the 1,500 freestyle.
With his win last week in the 10-kilometre open water race, Wellbrock became the first swimmer to win golds in two sports at a single world championships.
WATCH | Wellbrock wins 1,500 free:
He pulled away going into the final turn to win in 14 minutes, 36.54 seconds.
Mykhailo Romanchuck of Ukraine took silver. Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy, a two-time champion, earned bronze.
Pickrem misses podium
Swimming for a national record fourth individual medal at worlds, Pickrem landed fourth place in the women's 400 medley, one spot ahead of Canadian teammate Emily Overholt.
Pickrem was well behind podium pace, finishing 6.33 seconds behind winner Katinka Hosszu. Pickrem's time of 4:36.72 edged out Overholt, who held third place through three lengths, at 4:37.42.
"I'm pretty disappointed with that," said Overholt, who helped the 4x200-m freestyle relay to bronze earlier in the meet. "I guess I'm just happy to be in the final and hopefully I'll be better next year. Obviously I'm happy to be back at worlds and I had a good swim on the relay, but 4:37 is not really the swim I trained for. I was hoping to be a bit better."
Hosszu, of Hungary, extended her 400 medley domination, becoming the first woman to win five titles in one event. She swam the four-stroke race in 4:30.39.
Ye Shiwen of China took silver, just as she did behind Hosszu in the 200 IM. Yui Ohashi of Japan claimed bronze.
In the preliminaries, Tristan Cote had to wait until the last day for his first day. The University of Calgary swimmer turned in a personal best time of 4:17.22 to win his heat and move up to 15th from his pre-meet seeding of 23rd.
"It was good," he said. "You can never really complain with a best time. I felt like I was going a bit faster and definitely think I should be going a bit faster, but a best time is a best time, especially in the morning, that's all you can really hope for."
Zane Waddell of South Africa won the 50 backstroke, a non-Olympic event.
With files from The Associated Press