Claremont secondary graduate Sarah Darcel took another big step towards the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games with a silver medal in the 200-metre individual medley at the Commonwealth Games in Australia.
While Darcel’s career is on the upswing, Saanich-based backstroke specialist Hilary Caldwell said that this was probably the last competition of her career.
MEDAL ALERT: Silver medal for Sarah Darcel & Bronze medal Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson in the women's 200 IM! 🥈 pour Darcel & 🥉 pour @erika_salt en 200 QNI #LiveTheMoment @SwimmingCanada pic.twitter.com/nwnj4QOi4i
— Commonwealth Games Canada (@cgc_jcc) April 8, 2018
On Sunday Darcel made the podium in the women’s 200m final behind Siobhan Marie O’Connor (England), who took the gold in 2:09.80. Darcel, who moved to Victoria to train with Swimming Canada’s High Performance Centre at Saanich Commonwealth Place, finished second in 2:11.14 for the silver, with Vancouver’s Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson third in 2:11.74.
‘’The breaststroke was the key for me,’’ said Darcel. ‘’It was a great race.’’
Darcel is among a group of young Canadian women who dominated in the pool with 20 medals.
On Sunday, Ontario teens Taylor Ruck and Kylie Masse earned gold and silver in the women’s 200m backstroke. Olympic bronze-medallist Caldwell was fifth (2:09.22.)
‘’I didn’t have quite the performance I wanted at the worlds last year after a great season of training,’’ Caldwell said. ‘’I really wanted to come down here and be in the [Commonwealth Games] environment. It’s a cool way to end.’’