A milestone year just had a record-breaking finish for an Okotoks swimming star.
Finlay Knox swam to a new Canadian record on Dec. 19 to finish fifth in the 100 metre individual medley as part of a sterling weekend from Team Canada at the FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
“It was good. Regardless, if it was an international final or Canadian final you have to prep the same,” said Knox in a Swimming Canada release. “You have to be in the same mental state to go out and swim fast.”
The 20-year-old touched the wall in 51.70 seconds in the 100m final, breaking Canadian Javier Acevedo’s 51.76 benchmark established earlier in the month, in Knox’s first qualification for a final swim at a major international competition at the senior level.
Knox qualified third in his heat with a 51.99 seconds swim in the preliminaries and had earlier this season set the Canadian record at an International Swimming League competition in September at 51.77.
The Okotoks Mavericks Swim Club alumnus also turned in a ninth place showing in the 200m individual medley in Abu Dhabi, just missing out on a top-eight finish through to the finals.
Knox, who competed at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in the summer and earned a 17th place finish in the 200m individual medley, has been living in Toronto and training out of the High Performance Centre among many of Canada’s top swimming stars.
Canada has been thriving in the pool at the worlds meet with a number of record-setting performances, even in the absence of decorated Olympian Penny Oleksiak.
Knox’s teammate Josh Liendo swam to a bronze medal in the 50m freestyle on Dec. 19 and snapped a nine-year drought for Canadian men medalling at a worlds or Olympic meet, a feat not accomplished since the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Summer McIntosh, 15, swam to a silver medal in the 400m freestyle with the likes of Kylie Masse and Maggie Mac Neil also ensuring Canada is making its mark once again on the world stage.
Through five of six days of the competition, Canada has already eclipsed its best medal performance at the short course worlds event with 12 trips to the podium to date.
For more information go to swimming.ca.
