Canada boosted its medal total at the Para swimming world championships with a flourish on Friday. Danielle Dorris won the women's S7 50-metre butterfly event just ahead of fellow Canadian Tess Routliffe, while Nicholas Bennett dominated en route to top spot in the men's SM14 200 individual medley and Shelby Newkirk and Nicolas-Guy Turbide each scored bronze medals.
Dorris, Routliffe and Bennett now each have two gold medals and one silver at the meet in Manchester, England. Canada sits at 15 total medals, with eight gold, three silver and four bronze.
Dorris' winning time of 33.98 seconds broke the championship record she set last year. "Being able to do that I feel very happy," the Moncton, N.B., native said. "I think my ending went well [in today's race].
I think I was able to speed up enough to aid the fact that my start was pretty long... along with my underwaters are always pretty good in my eyes." WATCH | Dorris, Routliffe top podium: Routliffe, of Caledon, Ont., touched in a personal-best time of 35.14 seconds, while American Julia Gaffney was just behind in 36.86 for bronze. "It was really good to have a teammate to race," said Routliffe. "We threw down the best possible race we could tonight and I'm really pleased with it." Routliffe will next swim in the mixed 4x100 medley relay at 3:32 p.m.