By Jim Morris

After having a nibble at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Finlay Knox hopes to take a bigger bite out of this year’s FINA World Championships.

Knox had one swim at the Tokyo Games, his first senior international meet. The 21-year-old from Okotoks swam close to his Canadian record at the time to finish 17th in the 200-m individual medley, missing semifinals by one spot.

“The plan wasn’t to go there and just swim once,” said Knox, who trains at the High Performance Centre – Ontario with coach Ryan Mallette. “It was very disappointing.

“There’s the saying that sometimes you’ve got to fail to succeed. Going through that experience wasn’t fun but I wouldn’t change it. I’ve learned a lot from that. It’s made me a lot hungrier in practice and more focused on executing my race.”

At the recent Bell Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria, Knox won the 200 IM in one minute, 57.50 seconds, lowering his own Canadian record to earn himself a spot on the Swimming Canada team competing at the world championships in Budapest, Hungary, beginning June 18.

Knox qualified for the 100-m butterfly after finishing second in a personal best 51.86 and also swam a personal best 1:47.92 finishing second in the 200-m freestyle.

Knox hopes to add relays to his schedule at worlds. Led by the now retired Brent Hayden, the men’s 4×100-m freestyle relay team finished fourth in Tokyo while the 4×100 medley relay was seventh.

“Relays are huge,” said Knox. “Coming off the Olympics, Canada did amazing in the relays. That’s something I want to be a part of.

“I wasn’t fast enough last year but in the coming years I want to be on that team and I want to be helping Team Canada get onto that podium and produce those world-class times.”

Mallette said the Tokyo experience has whetted Knox’s appetite for success at the international level.

“Every athlete has got a different progression curve,” said Mallette. “I would describe him as hungry and that’s exactly the quality I want in an athlete at where he is.”

Tokyo taught Knox that to become faster he needs to become stronger. He now has a better understanding of what training he needs in the weight room to get the results he wants in the water.

“There’s a change of mindset. I’m starting to figure out the difference between working harder and setting your bar higher and working to that,” he said. “I feel like I’ve always worked really hard in practice but I’m starting to figure out the difference between working hard and raising my expectations and working to that.”

Mallette has seen the difference in Knox’s training.

“Finlay has worked so hard,” he said. “He’s so much stronger in the weight room than I’ve even seen him. He’s made such a leap.”

Another difference for Knox this year is he’s swimming with two good hands. Knox broke a bone near the thumb on his left hand in a training room accident in January of 2021. The break required surgery but Knox opted to wait so he could prepare for the Olympic trials.

“My hand was broken at the trials and at the Olympics,” he said. “I got my surgery done in September. They took a bone graft from my hip, put it in my hand and pinned my hand together.

“It was a pretty crazy year. But now that my hand is fixed I feel like that’s a huge benefit in the weight room and helping me get stronger because I’m able to use my upper body. I don’t feel as hindered.”

When Knox isn’t swimming, he likes creating art and making designs for clothes.

Most of his inspiration comes from seeing pictures on Instagram or the internet.

“I look at it,” he said. “If it’s not too hard I give it a go. I figure out how to do it and just have fun with it.

“A lot of the artwork in my apartment is ones I’ve made.”

He’s created pictures by getting a canvas and paint, then using a string to make spirals. For clothes, he designs patches to iron on or stitch onto sweaters. He finds artwork a good way to relax away from training.

“The biggest thing is being able to separate yourself from the pool and not be focused on swimming 24/7,” said Knox. “I love just having these little projects to take my mind off swimming and find something that I enjoy doing.”

Knox’s goal at the world championships is to continue his progression and advance to the semifinals in the 200 IM or even reach the final.

“Our goal is to take the next step and get towards that second swim,” said Mallette. “Start being able to get where you don’t have to do a best time just to get through.

“We’re trying to develop a little bit more of a robust event program from him. He’s worked really hard.”

One of the lessons Knox learned at the Olympics is to focus on himself.

“You can’t control what other people are going to do and how fast they’re going to swim,” he said. “The only thing I can control is myself.

“The goal is to get to finals and be swimming with the top guys in the world. Right now we’ve just got to do the work and try to produce those times.”