Cosgriffe claims 100m backstroke silver as Canada caps Para swimming worlds with 12 medals
Katie Cosgriffe claimed Canada's final medal of the Para swimming world championships Saturday with a silver medal in women's 100-metre backstroke.
It was the second medal of the meet for the 19-year-old from Burlington, Ont., after taking bronze in the 100-metre butterfly.
Canada's team capped the seven-day championship in Singapore with a dozen medals, including two gold.
Mary Jibb of Muskoka, Ont., and Danielle Dorris of Moncton, N.B., led the charge with three medals each. Each swimmer produced a gold medal.
Cosgriffe, who races in the S10 classification, placed fifth in the 100 backstroke in last year's Paralympic Games in Paris.
"I was so devastated after that swim, I knew that I never wanted to feel that way again," Cosgriffe said.
"This entire season, the focus has been on this race. I'm just super happy to win my first major international medal in this event. It's been such a struggle for me over the past few years that to be where I'm at right now feels amazing."
The Canadian posted the fastest time of her career in the final at one minute 7.37 seconds behind victor Defne Kurt of Turkey in 1:06.95.
"I was going for gold. I got out-touched. Defne is an amazing swimmer and I knew she'd be tough to beat," Cosgriffe said. "I just slightly fell short but I gave it my all and I'm just so happy to come out of this with a medal."
Canada's coach Ryan Allen was pleased the his team's performance in Singapore. "The team really rallied around each other coming off a great staging camp in Thailand," Allen stated. "We used that to prepare really well, and everything has gone according to plan.
"The swimming was phenomenal. In the absence of some veterans that we've had for years, we had newcomers step up, first-time medallists at worlds, multi-medallists. We're right on the performance level that we saw in Paris. We saw almost every athlete racing in a final, which is a huge feat. Personal bests every single day. That stands out to me."
Canada's 19 swimmers were among 580 from 75 countries racing at the OCBC Aquatic Centre at the first world para swim championship held in Asia.
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