Saskatoon swimmer breaks Canadian records at world championships in Singapore

A Saskatoon swimmer who competed at the world championships in Singapore over the weekend earned a place in the Canadian history books.

Blake Tierney broke three individual Canadian records — setting a new bar in the 200-metre backstroke, breaking that same record in the next race, and then recording the fastest Canadian 100-metre backstroke split as part of the 4x100-metre medley relay team — and two team Canadian records as part of the 4x100 medley team.

Tierney said he likes being the underdog in these competitions, because there's not a lot to lose.

"I had some goals going into the meet, I hit some of them and I didn't hit all of them," he said.

"I'm always striving for more. But walking away with three Canadian individuals and then two relays, I think it was a really good meet and a really good improvement for myself."

Tierney went on to finish fourth in the 200-metre backstroke final, well surpassing his goal of making the semifinal. 

"That was my goal going in," he said. "Then, I dropped like one and a half seconds on my best time and the Canadian record, so coming away from that, I was kind of blown away."

He went into the semifinal as the top seed, a new experience for him.

"I was kind of just going in with the same attitude of, 'OK, let's just go make this final, let's see what we can do,'" he said.  

"I would have loved to get a medal, but you can't have everything."

He said he learned from the experience.

"Seeing what it has takes, and reminding myself about that moving that forward, I think that'll help me hopefully get [a podium] in the future," he said.

He also learned that the sky is the limit.

"Records are made to be broken," he said.

"Don't try to limit yourself based on what other people have done. Just kind of always try to improve. Not to prove, just improve." 

Blake's father Pete said he's very proud of his son's accomplishments.

"We're kind of floating and it's surreal, but we're just super happy for Blake," he said. "All that hard work and training has really paid off for him."

Pete said Blake's performance was extra impressive given that he came into the meet ranked 22nd out of 40 swimmers from around the world.

"That was just unbelievable," he said.