TOKYO – Canada posted the fastest time in the women’s 4X100-m medley relay, the men’s medley relay is also headed to the finals and Brent Hayden advanced to the semifinals in the men’s 50-m freestyle in Friday evening heats at the Olympic Games.

Taylor Ruck (backstroke), Sydney Pickrem (breaststroke), 100-m butterfly Olympic champion Margaret Mac Neil and Kayla Sanchez (freestyle) clocked three minutes and 55.17 seconds edging the Americans by 0.01 seconds in their medley relay heat to advance to Sunday’s final. Australia took the other heat in 3:55.39.

The final is Sunday morning in Tokyo (Saturday evening in Canada).

The Canadian foursome is based at the High Performance Centre-Ontario in Toronto.

MacNeil brought Canada from third to second on her leg and Sanchez credited some advice from Penny Oleksiak to help her sneak by the Americans.

“Those were big shoes to fill,” said Sanchez about Oleksiak. “I asked her for tips on how she closes a race so well and part of it is just to really dig. Tonight I really put my head down I tried to replicate what she does.”

Canada’s men’s 4X100 medley relay squeaked into eighth overall to advanced to Sunday’s final as well in 3:32.37. Originally the Canadians were ninth but Brazil, which tied the Americans for eighth, was disqualified.

The Canadian swimmers were Markus Thormeyer (backstroke), Gabe Mastromatteo (breaststroke), Josh Liendo (butterfly) and Yuri Kisil (freestyle).

“It’s a great group of guys to do it with,” said Mastromatteo at his first Games. “I’m excited for this final and hopefully we can turn out some nice swims again.”

In the men’s 100-m freestyle, Hayden advanced to the semis placing fourth in his heat and eighth overall in 21.85 seconds. Caeleb Dressel of the U.S. was the fastest qualifier in 21.32. Joshua Liendo was 18^th overall in 22.03 missing a berth in the semis by two spots.

The 37-year-old Hayden (HPC-Vancouver) was the Olympic bronze medallist in the 100 free in 2012 then retired in 2014. He decided in October 2019 to make a comeback to the sport.

“I feel great right now,” said Hayden, who clocked the third fastest time of his career in the event and just missed his Canadian record of 21.73 set in 2009.

“Two years ago, I wasn’t even swimming and now here I am with my name on the first slate of those going to the semifinals. I couldn’t ask for better than that really.”

Hayden’s semi is in tonight’s session starting at 9:30 p.m. (ET) Also on the schedule is the women’s 200-m backstroke final with Canadians Kylie Masse and Taylor Ruck each chasing their second medal for these Games.

Full schedule and results: https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/swimming/olympic-schedule-and-results-date=2021-07-29.htm