Saanich’s Ryan Cochrane won his first medal in the men’s 400-metre freestyle with a time of 3:44.59 at the FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia, a first for a Canadian in that event.
It is Cochrane’s seventh medal from the world championships, the most all-time by a Canadian.
“It wasn’t the best time but it’s nice to get on the podium. That’s what I’ve worked for 10 years in this event is to try to grab a medal,” said Cochrane, competing at his fifth world championships.
The 26-year-old has seen his results in the event progress from 18th in 2007, to seventh in 2009, to fifth in 2011 and fourth in 2013.
“It was great to see Ryan get his first world championship medal in the 400 free and it’s a big step for him,” said Ryan Mallette, Swimming Canada’s head coach of the Saanich-based High Performance Centre. “It’s a culmination of a lot of years of work starting with [former coach Randy Bennett who recently passed away] obviously and with the fantastic team that we have in Victoria. They work hard every day and they all had a part in this.”
Cochrane holds two Olympic and three world championship medals in the 1,500, including silver at the 2012 Olympics and 2013 worlds.
Cochrane now turns his focus at the FINA World Championships to the 1,500m, his specialty, with heats set for Saturday in the longest distance.
reporter@saanichnews.com