2018 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, August 9 – Tuesday, August 14, 2018
- Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center, Tokyo, Japan
- Meet site
- Psych Sheet
- Start Lists
- Meet Results
Taylor Ruck closed out the Pan Pacific Championships with a historic fifth medal on the final night in Tokyo, breaking the record for most medals won by a Canadian at a single Pan Pacs.
Ruck’s fifth medal, won in the women’s 200 backstroke, broke a seven-way tie for most medals won by a Canadian at the Pan Pacific Championships, as six others have won four.
Ruck walked away with one gold, one silver and three bronzes, winning the 200 freestyle in a new Commonwealth and Championship Record and adding an individual silver in the 200 back and a bronze in the 100 freestyle. She won two more bronzes in the 400 and 800 free relays.
“I just wanted to do the best that I could and it’s so amazing to be able to accomplish that,” Ruck said. “I couldn’t have done it without my relay teammates and all of Team Canada.
“This sets my expectations higher,” she added. “I just love Japan and hopefully I’ll be able to come back here in two years (for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games).”
Ruck also set the all-time record for medals won at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year, picking up eight to join Ralph Hutton (1966) of Canada, and Australians Susie O’Neill (1998) and Emily Seebohm (2010).
Taylor Ruck Medals, 2018 Pan Pacs:
- Gold – 200 freestyle – 1:54.44 (Commonwealth, Pan Pac Record)
- Silver – 200 backstroke – 2:06.41
- Bronze – 100 freestyle – 52.72 (personal best)
- Bronze – 400 free relay – 3:34.07 (52.85 lead-off)
- Bronze – 800 free relay – 7:47.28 (1:54.08 split)
In addition to her Commonwealth Record in the 200 freestyle, the 18-year-old also set a new personal best in the 100 free, falling just .02 shy of Penny Oleksiak‘s Canadian Record of 52.70.
Ruck also had a pair of 4th place finishes in the 50 free (24.47) and the 400 medley relay, where she anchored the Canadians in a blazing 51.72. She missed a medal in those events by a combined 26-one-hundredths of a second. She also would’ve had a shot at a medal in the 100 back, but opted to scratch out of that event with the 100 free and 4×200 free relay falling on the same day.
Quotes courtesy of Swimming Canada.
Taylor Ruck for Prime Minister!
Lmao who is downvoting all these comments??
Ha no kidding. ..outside of one or two slight sarc ones they’re all curious statements or comments🤔
Penny’s marketing team
Hopefully Oleksiak can get her groove back and bolster the Canadian relays. Ruck’s medal potential is even greater with the relays at full strength.
Not to mention that Kyla Sanchez is rapidly improving as well.
Yeah apart from her 200 pb I was impressed by her speed in the 100.
Sanchez relay split of 53.11 in the 4×100 free relay is right down where Ruck and van Landeghem split in the 4×100 free relay in Rio. Impressive world-level swim.
How many female swimmers in history have/can go 24.2 or better AND 154 or better? Sjostrom is the only one I can think of. ..
Well if you just stop to think… only 4 swimmers have swam faster times than Ruck in 200 free and none of Pellegrini, Schmitt, or Ledecky go 24.2
Don’t think Pellegrini, Schmitt or Ledecky ever bragged about drinking espresso before their races either.
Ah Carl. Why so negative about an 18 year old swimmer drinking coffee? Nothing better to do with your time?
Thanks for the advice Bob! Anyways can you ‘think’ of any other 154, not 153, 200 Freestylers that have 24.2 speed?
Emma McKeon. She is also pretty fast in 100/200 fly.
Emma McKeon and Rikako Ikee
With regard to Ruck, there also have not been too many swimmers who have been 6-foot-2 and about 130 pounds, and you have to wonder what is going on there.
The info I can find on her says she is 5’11 or 6’0, not sure where 6’2 comes from.
Real life and use of one’s eyeballs.
She’s about 160 actually.
There aren’t any besides Ruck and Sjostrom, though there’s a few (Ikee and McKeon are 24.3s) close enough to be effectively the same class.
It is just not how many medals.. it is the times she did too! From 50 free to 200 back, and of course the 200 freeand relay splits. She had a packed schedule and man did she deliver!
One thing I had learned from this week is that Taylor Ruck is very tall, quiet possibly the tallest female swimming of them all according to John Burgess 🙂
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-burgess-5732ab43/
Don’t forget about Zach Apple THE GIANT.
😂😂
I’m just wondering what events Taylor Ruck will specialize with. If one looks at her personal bests he/she will definitely got confused with the answer on this question. Gets confused because she is good with many different disciplines that have completely different way to train for in order to perfect at elite level. Something has to be sacrificed. If to consider the current state of competition she has the best chances at 200 distance. Freestyle or backstroke. Similar to Missy Franklin before she went to the college. And that is exactly what college coaches don’t focus at and will exploit her talent either at sprint or at longer distances.… Read more »
Taylor Ruck personal bests:
Free – 24.26, 52.72, 1:54.44
I think her core events should be 100fr-200fr-200bk, and she can dabble in 50fr-100bk and a little 200IM here and there perhaps.
Counting the best performances of 2017 and 2018, these are Ruck’s rankings in her best events:
200 free: 1st 1:54.44 (2nd Ledecky 1:54.56, 3rd Pellegrini 1:54.73)
200 back: 6th 2:06.36 (1st Seebohm 2:05.68, 2nd Hosszu 2:05.85, 3rd Masse 2:05.97)
100 free: 7th 52.72 (1st Sjöström 51.71, 2nd C. Campbell 52.07, T3rd B. Campbell / Manuel 52.27)
50 free: 9th 24.26 (1st Sjöström 23.67, 2nd Blume 23.75, 3rd C. Campbell 23.78)
100 back: 9th 58.97 (1st Baker 58.00, 2nd Masse 58.10, 3rd Seebohm 58.53)
200 im: 19th 2:11.16 (1st Hosszu 2:07.00, 2nd Ohashi 2:07.91, 3rd Baker 2:08.32)
At just age 17, younger than Ruck, Team USA’s Ledecky won 5 GOLD in 2014 Pan Pacs lest we forget. With her meet high 3 individual event gold at 2018 Pan Pacs, Ledecky’s total of 7 individual event GOLD medals across two Pan Pacs now draws her within one individual event gold of Michael Phelps’ eight individual golds in Pan Pacs competition–which it took Phelps a total of four Pan Pacs meets to accumulate.
Phelps spent many of those Pan Pacs playing around with alternate events
Yep, part of the point which shows Ledecky consistency and dedication to Team USA even in bad Pan Pac conditions to bring home gold and with no excuses by messing with non-core events or racking up minor medals like Ruck just to put up numbers. While Phelps experimented with a lot of things over those years, Ledecky has been a rock for team USA for seven years now.
Difference is, that Phelps was capable of medalling in many “off” events, while Ledecky probably couldn’t medal in events outside of her 200-1500free, other than probably 400IM.
This is about Taylor Ruck, not Katie Ledecky. Yes Ledecky is probably the most impressive female swimmer ever, but what Taylor Ruck has done this year is very impressive and deserves to be recognized!
Not to hate on Ledecky and Phelps but I feel like Ruck had harder competition. Her events are the most competitive woman’s events back and sprint free. She had to race CCand Ledecky in the free and Masse and Baker in Back (just to name a few). Coming out of this competition with as many medals as she did was amazing.