2018 COMMONWEALTH GAMES
- Thursday, April 5th – Tuesday, April 10th (swimming)
- Optus Aquatic Centre, Gold Coast, Australia
- Prelims at 10:30am local (8:30pm previous night EDT)
- Finals at 7:30pm local (5:30am EDT)
- Official Commonwealth Games website
- Entries
- Meet Schedule + Results
- Live Stream (Canada)
- Live Stream (US)
- Live Stream (Australia)
Canadian Taylor Ruck went head-to-head with Australians Ariarne Titmus and Emma McKeon in the women’s 200 freestyle final at the Commonwealth Games, emerging with the gold medal in a time of 1:54.81. That swim breaks McKeon’s Games Record of 1:55.57 set four years ago in Glasgow, her Commonwealth Record of 1:54.83 from 2016, and also breaks Ruck’s own Canadian Record of 1:56.85 set earlier this year at the Atlanta Pro Swim by two full seconds.
Ruck and McKeon were out fast, leading the field by a wide margin at the halfway mark, but Titmus began to make up some ground on the third 50. Titmus made a huge charge on the last 50, closing in 28.8, but Ruck managed to hold her off and win the race by just .04, with Titmus touching for silver in 1:54.85.
Check out a split comparison of Ruck’s new and previous Canadian Record swims below, set just over a month apart. Looking at the splits, the main difference came on the back half:
| Ruck – 2018 Atlanta Pro Swim | Ruck – 2018 Commonwealth Games |
| 26.88 | 26.68 |
| 29.62 (56.50) | 29.36 (56.04) |
| 30.25 (1:26.75) | 29.63 (1:25.67) |
| 30.10 (1:56.85) | 29.14 (1:54.81) |
| 1:56.85 | 1:54.81 |
In the all-time rankings, Ruck ties Missy Franklin for 7th all-time with her 1:54.81, while Titmus slips into 10th, coming just .02 off of McKeon’s National Record.
ALL-TIME PERFORMERS, WOMEN’S 200 FREESTYLE
|
Fastest Performers Ever
|
||
| 1 | Federica Pellegrini | 1:52.98 |
| 2 | Allison Schmitt | 1:53.61 |
| 3 | Katie Ledecky | 1:53.73 |
| 4 | Sarah Sjostrom | 1:54.08 |
| 5 | Camille Muffat | 1:54.66 |
| 6 | Femke Heemskerk | 1:54.68 |
| 7 | Missy Franklin | 1:54.81 |
| 7 | Taylor Ruck | 1:54.81 |
| 9 | Emma McKeon | 1:54.83 |
| 10 | Ariarne Titmus | 1:54.85 |
This is a great start to the meet for Ruck, who will also be a medal threat in the 100 free, 100 back and 200 back, not to mention a key cog on the Canadian relays. She’ll swim the 400 free relay to close out this session a bit later on.
HPC Ontario program is just what Ruck needed. Nice 51.8 anchor split on relay too. And, Rebecca Smith 57.7 BF in semis!
So all four of Taylor Ruck’s 50m splits beat her previous Canadian record. For her strategy, that shows a lot of consistency.
The most impressive part of this race wasn’t Ruck’s 1:54.81 or Titmus’ 1:54.85 but it was 28.82 for the last 50 by Ariarne Titmus. This is the Pellegrini style 200 free. And if you ask me who has more reserves left for improvement I would bet for Adriarne Titmus.
Greg Meehan loses Katie Ledecky and gains a Taylor Ruck for the 200 free relay. I can’t wait. ?
I watched the finals in Canada on DAZN and it was so wonderful to see Ruck take it out ahead of the Australians (and stuff a towel down the throats of those pro-Aussie commentators!!) #GoCanadaGo!! Ruck is such an amazing, dedicated swmmer; she’s really pulling it forward in pursuit of a storied career. Canadians can forget about Oleksiak who seems to have lost the will to train and compete. Ruck is definitely the young Canadian swimmer to watch in the lead up to Tokyo 2020.
Yikes ‘Frank’ you should get out from behind the keyboard for a while. You realize you are talking about a 17 year old?
While I agree that Ruck is a star, and I predict she become a legend in the sport… you have pretty harsh words for Oleksiak. I for one, commend Penny for getting back to a somewhat normal life as a 17 year old after the whirlwind of post-Olympic fame. I’m sure she has lots of great swimming left in her for years to come.
Oleksiak’s grandmother just died yesterday bud… cut the kid some slack
Ariarne Titmus’ time who actually is not a sprinter is as much impressive as Taylor Ruck’s one.
1:55 at 200 was a prerequisite for Katie Ledecky to break 4min at 400. On the other hand Camille Mufatt and Allison Schmitt were well under 1:55 and even 1:54 but got stuck at 4:01. Let’s see what type of middle distance swimmer Ariarne Titmus is.
Canadian women’s freestyle relays will be tough to beat in the years to come.
Can USA find the answer before Tokyo? Claire Tuggle is a gift for American swimming and can be a first answer. At least for the 4X200 free relay.
???
And a great answer from Titmus. It bodes well for her 400 free. Will she be the next girl under 4 minutes? Before Li Bingjie?
maybe tonight
Is it tonight? I thought W400free is on the last day of competition. Ariarna has 800 relay and 800 individual before that. It may affect her performance at 400.