Taylor Ruck Soaks in ‘On Fire’ Canadian Trials; Aims for Another Big Pan Pacs
A few years ago, Taylor Ruck was at the top of her game, swimming to NCAA championships, making another Olympic team for Canada and throwing down her best race ever at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships.
But since graduating from Stanford, she has moved her training base a couple of times and continued to seek the best fit for her various puzzle pieces. Ruck seems to have put things together and is back at the top of her game, proving it by winning all five of her races at the recent Bell Canadian Trials. Along the way, she recorded a personal best and was close to several other top times to head into Pan Pacs with momentum.
“I feel like ‘on fire’ is a great way to put it,” Ruck said in an interview with Swimming World. “This meet was a really cool coming together of a whole bunch of things. The training this year and trusting that – and believing.
“I am looking at it like a puzzle piece. This is the last two years I will be doing this. I have been able to swim with the best coaches in the world, and that blows my mind.”
Ruck grew up training in Arizona and Canada. She trained for three years with Ben Titley at the High Performance Centre in Toronto, then went to Stanford to swim for Greg Meehan. She swam for a year at Arizona State with Herbie Behm and in September, moved to Vancouver to swim with Scott Talbot in a return to her hometown.
“It is a lot of changes and things to figure out, but the biggest thing I have taken away from it is what being open looks like,” Ruck said. “And being fearless. That helps me a lot. We will see where the next part of the story takes me. I am not a huge long-term planner, so I like to take little steps that feel right.”
Ruck, a three-time Olympian and three-time Olympic medalist, was in top form from Night One at Trials, when she won the 100 backstroke in 58.37, her best time ever. The performance enabled her to defeat fellow Olympians Kylie Masse and Ingrid Wilm. Ruck’s previous best was 58.55 at the 2019 Canadian Trials.
“I was not expecting that at all,” Ruck said. “It was definitely a great way to start. It helped with momentum and I could settle into the meet.”
On Night Two, she won the 100 free in 53.06, her fastest time since the 2019 World Championships (53.03). It was near her all-time best of 52.72 at the 2018 Pan Pacs.
On Night Three, she won the 100 butterfly in 58.15.
On Night Four, it was the 50 freestyle in 24.68.
On Night Five, she won the 50 butterfly in 25.93.
Ruck has moved into more butterfly and sprinting in place of swimming the 200 free, an event that she won twice at NCAAs and at the 2018 Pan Pacs, beating Katie Ledecky and Ariarne Titmus head-to-head. That was one of her two gold medals in international competition. She has earned 25 total medals in major international meets.
“I was really happy with that. Coach Herbie (alluded) to butterfly being like an origin story this year,” Ruck said. “I swam it just for fun earlier this year, then did it at Worlds and I figured out a little rhythm and how to apply my 50 free strategy to the 50 fly and those kinds of things. And practicing it more, I wrapped my head around how to do it.”
Ruck, 26, started this year with a lot of racing.
After competing at the Sacramento stop of the TYR Pro Swim Series, she headed to Europe for the Canet and Barcelona stops of the Mare Nostrum Series. She finished in the top four in every event from the trio of meets.
The stretch has produced several strong swims, including a near-personal best of 58.71 in the 100 backstroke in Barcelona, setting her up for an even faster race at Canadian Trials.
“I like to travel,” Ruck said. “Swimming is pretty much all I am doing right now. It is a workload but it is all I really have to plan. Doing different meets back to back is fun because I love the competition. You learn a lot during competitions. I just really want to go into Pan Pacs having fun. I love that pool. Having such a high-caliber meet there is going to be a blast.”