Taylor Ruck came, saw, and conquered this year's Commonwealth Games in Australia. The Kelowna native may only be 17-years-old, but the young phenom put on a swimming clinic, eventually tying the record for most medals won in the international athletic event.
In the water, Ruck took home an impressive eight pieces of hardware, which also makes her the fourth person overall to achieve the feat and the first Canadian woman do so at all. And while Ruck's entire campaign was littered with highlights, the biggest came via a gold medal performance in the 200 metre freestyle where she set a new Commonwealth Games record time.
Taylor also managed to snag five (yes, you read that correctly) silver medals in 200 m backstroke, 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay, 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay, and the 4 x 100 metre medley relay. Not one to let up, she also grabbed two bronze medals in the 100 metre backstroke and 100 metre freestyle.
Speaking with Swimming.ca, the young gun herself expressed some amazement at the whole situation. ‘’I’m just super excited to win that many medals,’’ she began. ‘’Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would win this many. This has been a fantastic meet for Team Canada. I’m just so happy to share so many experiences with my best friends.’’
With this much success in her early career, you can fully expect Taylor to be a front-runner in the 2020 Summer Olympics. In the meantime, watch some of this year's golden moment below via DAZN's twitter feed.
