Competing in her first event of the meet on Day 2 of the 2025 Toyota World Para Swimming Championships, the 18-year-old from Muskoka, Ont., captured Canada’s first gold medal of the week thanks to a record performance in the women’s 200-metre individual medley SM9.
“I definitely feel like it hasn’t sunken in yet. A year ago I would never have dreamed that I would be standing on top of the world podium,” said Jibb, who placed seventh in the event in her first Paralympic Games appearance last summer.
To say Jibb was sensational in her worlds debut would be a major understatement.
She started the day by winning the morning preliminaries in 2:35.51, more than two seconds faster than the previous Americas and national marks set by Canadian great Stephanie Dixon back at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics.
In the evening final, Jibb lowered those standards again, this time clocking 2:32.90, a time that would have won gold at Paris 2024.
Fourth after the opening butterfly and second at the 100-m and 150-m marks, the Canadian teenager dominated the final leg to prevail by a comfortable margin over Anastasiya Dmytriv of Spain (2:35.36), the bronze medallist from Paris. Hungarian star Zsófia Konkoly, the reigning Paralympic champion and defending two-time world titlist, was third in 2:36.09.
“We’ve been working really hard on my breaststroke. And then freestyle, I just had to bring it home,” Jibb said. “In the last 25, I saw in my peripherals that there was nobody, so I thought, ‘I got it.’
“I guess so, yes,” laughed the newly-crowned champ when asked if she should now be considered one of the best S9 swimmers in the world after defeating such competition. “It feels pretty surreal.”
Last March, Jibb moved from Ontario to the west coast to train with the Pacific Sea Wolves coached by Jy Lawrence in Surrey, B.C.
“We moved halfway across the country six months ago to train with PSW. I have to thank my mom and my sister for moving out there with me, to support me and support my dreams.”
Lawrence had a front-row seat on Monday to witness her protégée’s exploits as a member of the Canadian coaching staff in Singapore.
“The drive that she came to training with, and how she executed exactly what was asked of her… I don’t know if proud necessarily encompasses how I feel about an athlete who’s able to do that,” Lawrence said. “The trust that she had in the process, I’m beyond proud.”
Katie Cosgriffe of Burlington, Ont., had Canada’s second best placing on Day 2, finishing fourth in the women’s 200 IM SM10 in a personal best 2:32.36, just 29 hundredths of a second off the podium.
That time was almost three seconds faster than her previous best of 2:35.06 set on July 10 at the Ontario championships.
“I knew it was going to be close. I could see the girl who came third and I fought so hard in that last 50. I gave everything I could. I put my head down and I was thinking ‘Just touch the wall’. Then I looked, and saw I was fourth,” said Cosgriffe, who was 10th in the event at both Paris 2024 and at the 2023 worlds.
That girl in third place was none other than Dutch star Lisa Kruger, the 2022 world champion and reigning Paralympic bronze medallist.
“I’ll be honest, it does hurt a lot. But this is the best I’ve ever done in this race. I’m extremely happy that I smashed my time. That was really my goal going into this,” Cosgriffe said. “Of course I wanted to walk away with a medal, but I didn’t expect a three-second drop. That performance was really incredible, and now I just have to work harder.”
In the men’s 100 backstroke S8, Reid Maxwell of St. Albert, Alta., lowered his own Canadian record to 1:08.34, good for seventh position.
“I can’t be disappointed,” the 18-year-old said. “I’m not a backstroker. I haven’t done any training in this event this year. So going best time here, Canadian record in a backstroke event, was not expected.
“I’ve been working a lot more on free and fly this year, so I’m really looking forward to the 100 fly tomorrow and the 100 free on Day 4.”
Also finishing seventh in Day 2 finals were Fernando Lu of Burnaby, B.C., in the men’s 200 IM SM10 (2:18.05), Toronto’s Aly Van Wick-Smart in the women’s 150 IM SM5 (4:33.13) and Emma Van Dyk of Port Colborne, Ont., in the women’s 100 back S14 (1:12.27).
Lu set a PB of 2:16.73 in the preliminaries.
In the last event of the night,the Canadian mixed 4×50 free relay 20 points made up of Maxwell, Van Wick-Smart, Jordan Tucker of Guelph, Ont., and Sebastian Massabie of Surrey was fifth in 3:07.62.
In other Canadian action, Tucker placed ninth in the preliminaries of the women’s 100 freestyle S4 in a personal best time of 1:52.71, while Alec Elliot of Kitchener, Ont., was 10th in the men’s 200 IM SM10 (2:22.31).
Canada opened the seven-day competition on Sunday with a pair of bronze medals, courtesy of Nicholas Bennett of Parksville, B.C., in the men’s 200 free S14 and Surrey’s Arianna Hunsicker in the women’s 50 free S10.
The 2025 Toyota World Para Swimming Championships run from Sept. 20-27 at the OCBC Aquatic Centre in Singapore. Nineteen Canadians are among over 580 athletes from 75 nations competing in the first-ever edition of the event held in Asia.
Morning heats begin at 9 p.m. ET, with finals at 5:30 a.m. ET. Fans can watch all sessions on cbcsports.ca or on CBC Gem. Radio-Canada Sports is broadcasting the swimming events on its Tou.tv platform.
Schedule & results: https://www.paralympic.org/swimming/live-results
