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Canada wraps up the 2018 Youth Olympic Games with another bronze medal

2018 Youth Olympic Games –

BUENOS AIRES-  Alexander Milanovich of Etobicoke, Ont., won the bronze medal in the men’s 50-m breaststroke on Friday to conclude the swimming competition of the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

Michael James Houlie of South Africa won the gold medal in the men’s 50-m breaststroke in a time of 27.51. Sun Jiajun of China took the silver in 27.85, and Milanovich finished third in a personal best of 27.87.

“My race was pretty good, it feels great being here and medalling was even better,” said Milanovich. “This overall experience was outstanding, the staff and the people here are just incredible and it was great meeting new people.”

In the mixed 4×100-m medley relay, China took gold clocking in at 3:49.79, the Russian Federation was second in 3:51.46, and Japan third in 3:51.74.

Canada finished seventh in a time of 3:57.32. The Canadian swimmers were Madison Broad of Chatham, Ont., Alexander Milanovich, Joshua Liendo of North York, Ont., and Kyla Leibel of Red Deer, Alta.

“The Canadian team came away with many more finals and semifinals than we’ve had at past Youth Olympic Games,” said Ken McKinnon, Swimming Canada’s national development coach. “This was a fantastic performance from a group of really tough swimmers.”

Canada finished the competition with 12 semifinal performances, 11 finals, and 3 medals (Silver: 1, Bronze: 2).

“We had a tough competition as it’s very early in the season,” said McKinnon. “All of the swimmers are only five to six weeks off their last competition. However, it was amazing that they managed to get home, start school and get back to training and were able to swim within one percent of their best times and get on the podium three times.”

Earlier in the week, Finlay Knox, of Okotoks, Alta., won a bronze medal in the men’s 200-m individual medley with a time of 2:01.91.

“My race was good,” said Knox. “Going into the event I was ranked third with my best time, so I knew if I had a good swim I could place well.”

Knox also competed in the men’s 200-m breaststroke where he finished 18th. He was also a member of the men’s 4×100-m medley relay that finished 6th in the final. The relay included team members Joshua Liendo, Alexander Milanovich, and Sebastian Somerset.

On Tuesday night, Madison Broad brought home Canada’s second medal with her second place finish in the women’s 200-m backstroke. Broad was the first ever Canadian backstroke medallist at the Games.

Broad also competed in the women’s 100-m backstroke where she finished 5th in 1:01.37 and the women’s 50-m backstroke where she placed 7th with a time of 29.12.

The Canadian team achieved many firsts throughout the competition but most notably all 8 Canadian swimmers advanced to a semifinal or final in individual events, which is a first for Canada in Youth Olympic Games history.

Kyla Leibel advanced to the final in the women’s 100-m freestyle where she finished 8th in a time of 56.16. Leibel also progressed to semifinals in the women’s 50-m freestyle where she finished 10th in 25.77. Both of these times bettered the previous best Canadian time at the Youth Olympic Games.

Other Canadian semifinalists and finalists of the competition were: Nina Kucheran of Sudbury, Ont., 6th in the women’s 50-m breaststroke in 32.06, Avery Wiseman of Drayton Valley, Alta., 8th in the women’s 50-m breaststroke in 32.79 and 13th in the women’s 100-m breaststroke in 1:10.67, Kyla Leibel, 11th in the women’s 50-m butterfly in 27.30, Sebastian Somerset of Calgary 11th in the men’s 50-m backstroke in 26.45 and 15th in men’s 100-m backstroke in 56.98, and Joshua Liendo 16th in the men’s 50-m freestyle in 23.38.

Tune into CBC Saturday at 4:00 P.M. ET to catch some highlights of the Canadian swimming at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

Full results: Buenos Aires 2018