Canada's Pickrem wins gold in 200m individual medley at World Cup stop in Athens

Halifax's Sydney Pickrem won gold for Canada in the 200-metre individual medley at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup event on Sunday in Athens.

The 26-year-old Pickrem finished in time of two minutes 9.67 seconds, 1.48 seconds ahead of American Torri Huske, Australian star Kaylee McKeown finished third.

For Pickrem, who won an Olympic bronze medal as part of Canada's women's 4x100m medley relay team at the Tokyo Games, perhaps the most significant triumph has been regaining her comfort and confidence in the pool.

In July, she had to withdraw from the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan due to personal reasons.

Fellow Canadian Olympian Kylie Masse, of Windsor, Ont., won a bronze medal Sunday in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:10.77. McKeown won gold in the event in 2:06.02, while American Katie Grimes claimed silver in 2:08.01.

Canada won a total of six medals at the weekend competition with Masse and Calgary's Ingrid Wilm each collecting two on Saturday.

Wilm won silver in the 50 backstroke with a time of 27.94, edging Masse by 0.01 seconds. Masse brought home silver in the 100 backstroke in 1:00.01, with Wilm taking the bronze in 1:00.57.

McKeown won gold in both events and set a World Cup record (57.63) in the 100.

The World Cup tour continues next week with the final stop in Budapest, Hungary.