Canadians Danielle Dorris and Camille Bérubé fell just short of the podium in the 200m individual medley SM7 finals on Friday in the pool at Tokyo
Mallory Weggemann of the United States collected the gold medal after breaking a world record in the event. Alongside her on the podium was fellow American Ahalya Lettenberger with silver and Tiffany Thomas Kane of Australia with bronze.
Dorris and Bérubé were right behind, the former missing a medal by .05. Coming in fifth, Bérubé was .8 seconds back of third.
This is Dorris’ second Paralympics and, at 18, she is one of Canada’s youngest swimmers.
“I swam it a lot better (than in preliminaries), which was my plan,” the Moncton, N.B. native said after the race. “I’m very, very happy with it.”
This was the first final for which she had qualified.
“I really enjoyed that,” Dorris said.
Bérubé, of Gatineau, Que., is now a three-time paralympian, after making her debut in London in 2012.
“This is the fastest time that I’ve gone in probably five years; my best time in this sport class,” she said. “I’m definitely thrilled about that. A great start to the rest of the week.”
The 26-year-old was happy she was able to compete against each one of her teammates.
“Having another Canadian in the final was pretty cool to be able to race each other,” she said.
Bérubé will be racing in the 100m breaststroke SB6 on Friday and Dorris will be in the 100m backstroke SB7 on Monday.
Both athletes will race to qualify for the 50m butterfly S7 final in their respective heats on Thursday.