After a furious final charge to the wall in which all three medals were for the taking, Ryan Cochrane of Victoria won the bronze medal in the men鈥檚 800-metre freestyle Wednesday at the 2013 FINA world aquatics championships in Barcelona, Spain.
鈥淭here are so many great competitors that in this 800, I think anybody had a chance at the podium,鈥� said Cochrane, the Claremont Secondary graduate who is studying business at UVic.
Defending-champion Sun Yang of China won gold in seven minutes, 41.36 seconds with Michael McBroom of the U.S. (7:43.60) just out-touching Cochrane (7:43.70) for the silver medal.
鈥淭he touches aren鈥檛 my friend this meet,鈥� said Cochrane, who was just out-touched for bronze earlier at the worlds in the 400-metre freestyle.
鈥淚t was hard getting fourth place [in the 400 metres]. It鈥檚 a frustrating place to be, but in a world championships anything can happen. To know I could claw my way back onto the podium [in the 800 metres] is great and we have the 1,500 to look forward to after this.鈥�
It was Cochrane鈥檚 third consecutive medal in the 800-metre freestyle at the world championships following silver in Shanghai in 2011 and bronze in Rome in 2009.
鈥淭he field is getting faster and faster and I think one of the mistakes we made is playing into everybody else鈥檚 race tactics,鈥� said the 24-year-old Islander, of his slip from worlds silver to bronze in the 800.
Randy Bennett, who is Cochrane鈥檚 personal coach with Victoria Academy/Island Swimming at Saanich Commonwealth Place and also coach of the Canadian national team, described the 800 final Wednesday as 鈥渁 very, very interesting race.鈥�
鈥淔ive guys were in it all the way and that鈥檚 not that normal in the distance freestyle,鈥� said Bennett. 鈥淚t鈥檚 usually a two- or three-horse race. But it was interesting 鈥� [Cochrane] could have been fifth.鈥�
The 800 metres is not an Olympic event.
Cochrane is a two-time Olympic medallist in the 1,500-metre freestyle with a breakout bronze at Beijing 2008 and the silver medal at London 2012.
The 1,500 in Barcelona will be contested over the weekend with the qualifying races Saturday and the final on Sunday with Cochrane gunning for his third consecutive worlds medal in the event following silver at Shanghai in 2011 and bronze at Rome in 2009.
Cochrane pushed sa国际传媒鈥檚 medal tally at the 2013 FINA world aquatics championships to five (two silver, three bronze) with Island performers contributing two of those. Three of sa国际传媒's medals (silver and two bronze) have come through the still-potent national diving team and the others being Cochrane in the 800 free and fellow-Victorian Eric Hedlin鈥檚 silver medal in the open-water 5K.
Islanders have accounted for four top-five finishes at the 2013 worlds with Cochrane fourth in the 400-metre freestyle and 2012 London Olympics bronze-medallist Richard Weinberger of Victoria fifth in the open-water 10K after failing to make the podium because of the mental mistake of missing a turn around a buoy.
鈥淭he three of us [Cochrane, Hedlin, Weinberger] all train in Victoria and I train with Eric [Hedlin and Cochrane belong to Victoria Academy/Island Swimming and Weinberger to UVic/Pacific Coast Swimming],鈥� noted Cochrane.
鈥淛ust being able to have a training group that pushes each other every day [at Saanich Commonwealth Place] is the best thing you can hope for. Distance training is never interesting. It鈥檚 back and forth on that black line for hours every day. But just knowing you have that group behind you and that can expect that much more from everyone really pushes us.鈥�
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