Canada's Dorris speeds to gold, Routliffe adds bronze at Para swimming worlds

Canadians collected a medal of each colour at the Para swimming world championships on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Nicholas Bennett added silver in the men's SM14 200m individual medley.

Dorris, the 19-year-old from Moncton, N.B., previously won silver in the 100m backstroke in Portugal, leaving her with the same gold-silver combination she took home from the Tokyo Paralympics.

She said Thursday's race also represented a season-best time.

"I'm feeling ecstatic right now. That's my first gold medal at a world championship meet. It's kinda surreal. Yes, I medalled yesterday but this is a gold medal — a little level up from that," Dorris said in an interview posted to the Canadian Paralympic Committee Twitter account.

WATCH | Dorris, Routliffe go gold, bronze in women's 50m butterfly:

Canadians Dorris, Routliffe share podium with gold, bronze at Para swimming worlds

2 years ago

Duration 6:39

Danielle Dorris of Moncton, N.B., won gold in a championship-record time of 34.01 seconds, while Tess Routliffe of Caledon, Ont., swam to bronze in 35.40 seconds in the women's S7 50-metre butterfly event at the 2022 world Para swimming championships in Madeira, Portugal.

The Caledon, Ont., native credited her individual medley preparation for improving her butterfly.

"We really wanted to make my fly more consistent and I think that's exactly what we were able to do. That was the best time for me. I've really been working on fly and trying to get that together so I just raced the person next to me and had fun," Routliffe, 23, said.

Bennett, now 18, was the youngest member of the Canadian Paralympic team in Tokyo, where he lowered the national record in each of his events but failed to reach the podium.

Worlds, then, marked a natural progression. The Parksville, B.C. swam a time of 2:10.23 to earn his second medal in Portugal after also snagging silver in the SM14 200m freestyle.

WATCH | Bennett snags silver in 200m individual medley:

Canada's Nicholas Bennett snags another silver at Para swimming worlds

2 years ago

Duration 6:35

Nicholas Bennett of Parksville, B.C., added to his silver medal in the SM14 200 metre freestyle event with another silver in the SM14 200m individual medley on Thursday at the 2022 world Para swimming championships in Madeira, Portugal.

It's not the first major international meet at which Bennett's had success either — he scored four medals at the 2019 Parapan Am Games, including three gold.

Earlier, a pair of Canadians experienced near podium misses as Felix Cowan and Abi Tripp touched fourth in their respective men's and women's S8 50m freestyle finals. 

Canada's Shelby Newkirk also placed fourth in the women's S6 50m freestyle, missing the podium by just 0.04 seconds.

The letter/number modifiers in the event name indicate classification.

Swimmers are organized into different categories depending on the severity of their disability.

Classification can also be broken down by discipline: S indicates freestyle, butterfly and backstroke; SB is breaststroke; and SM represents individual medley.

Live action on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem from the Penteada Olympic Pools Complex continues Friday and Saturday at 12:05 p.m. ET.

More than 600 athletes from over 70 nations are competing, with 31 swimmers representing Canada.