DELHI, India — Victoria’s Ryan Cochrane got Canada off to a golden start at the Commonwealth Games on Monday, winning the men’s 400-metre freestyle swim for his country’s first medal of the Games.
Cochrane won the race in three minutes 48.48 seconds, surging from behind to win with a brilliant final 50 metres.
The 21-year-old Cochrane was Canada’s lone medallist in the swimming pool at the Beijing Olympics, winning a bronze in the men’s 1,500-metre freestyle.
Cochrane is ranked second in the world this season in the men’s 1,500-metre free, which he swims on Oct. 8. He is also slated to be part of Canada’s freestyle relay team.
Cochrane, who studies psychology at the University of Victoria is hoping to cap a successful season with three medals at these Games.
He won gold in the men’s 1,500- and 800-metre freestyle races, as well as a silver in the 400-metre freestyle at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Irvine, Calif., in August.
At the previous Commonwealth Games, in Melbourne, Canada won 10 medals, but just one gold, by Mike Brown of Perth, Ont., in the men’s 200-metre breaststroke.
So Cochrane’s Day 1 gold medal gets Canada’s resurgent swim team well-launched in Delhi.
jmackinnon@edmontonjournal.com
Twitter.com/rjmackinnon
- Canada’s grocery code of conduct is coming in 2026. What it means for you
- New citizenship rules now in effect for ‘Lost Canadians.’ What to know
- ‘I’m getting lots of inquiries’ from MPs looking to join Liberals: minister
- 3 kids die from influenza A-related complications since start of December in Ontario
Comments