Canada earns first medal in Tokyo with silver in women's 4x100 freestyle swimming

Penny Oleksiak, Kayla Sanchez, Margaret Mac Neil and Rebecca Smith earned silver at the Tokyo Olympics, picking up Canada's first medal of the games.

Canada has earned its first trip to the podium at the Tokyo Olympics, claiming silver in the women's 4x100-metre swimming freestyle relay Saturday night.

Penny Oleksiak, the decorated swimmer who anchored the Canadian women to the nation's first medal of these Games, earned her fifth career trip to the podium in the process, tying the all-time record for a summer Olympian from Canada. Rower Lesley Thompson-Willie and sprinter Phil Edwards are Canada's other two five-time summer Games medalists.

"I think it’s kind of crazy," Oleksiak said after the race. "I think we were all hopeful that we would get a medal. We didn’t know what medal it would really be. I think we all just wanted one. For it to be a silver, it’s pretty crazy I think.”

Kayla Sanchez, Maggie Mac Neil and Rebecca Smith rounded out Canada's medal-winning crew. Sanchez took the lead position in the final, giving Mac Neil and Smith a chance to inch Canada closer to its eventual silver.

Then, in the final length, Oleksiak took over, propelling Canada out of what could have been a fourth-place finish and onto the podium.

"I just knew I wasn't going to touch third," Oleksiak said. "And when I make a decision in the race I have to execute it, so I wanted a silver medal for these girls and I wanted it so bad I wouldn't accept anything else."

Taylor Ruck, the fifth member of the team, didn't swim in the final but competed in the preliminary heats and also received a medal.

Earlier in the night Mac Neil, who replaced Ruck in the final, placed third in her semifinal of the women's 100-metre butterfly, earning a place in Sunday's final and a chance to earn an individual medal for Canada.

In that semifinal, Mac Neil, the 2019 world champion and Canadian record holder in the event, posted a time of 56.56 seconds. She finished behind world record holder and Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, and Yufei Zhang of China, who finished first with a time of 55.89 seconds.

"I know from experience my second swim is usually better because I'm warmed up already," Mac Neil said. "I was really looking forward to it. Having these girls with me definitely gave me that extra boost to get silver."

The Australian women's team earned gold in Saturday's 4x100-metre freestyle, shattering the previous world record with a time of 03:29.69. Canada managed to beat out the USA by a mere three one-hundredths of a second, as the Americans finished with bronze.

The Canadian relay team secured its place in tonight's final by posting the third-fastest time in yesterday's semifinal with a combined time of three minutes 33.72 seconds, narrowly behind the Netherlands and Australia.

This relay team kicking off the nation's Olympics success isn't new. Five years ago, during the Rio Games, it was the Canadian women's 4x100-metre freestyle relay team that earned Canada's first medal with a bronze.

Canada's women will seek to secure a podium position in all three relay events during the Tokyo games after achieving three bronze medals during the world championship in South Korea two years ago.

"I have a lot of faith in these people," Sanchez said. "If you want someone to anchor it's Penny. And if you want someone to swim second it's Maggie. And Rebecca is a great trainer and consistent. We just did what we needed to do."

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