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Taylor Ruck may only be 18-years-old, but she’s already carved out quite the career in the pool.
The Kelowna native has added to her resume, being named Female Athlete of the Year at the Aquatics Canada awards.
“There’s so many great Canadian athletes and it’s so humbling to be considered the top Canadian female,” said Ruck of her accomplishment.
Her success has been a team effort and that was recognized as well, with her coach Ben Titley winning Coach of the Year.
In April, Ruck won eight medals at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, tying the record for the most medals ever at the international competition.
Despite having two Olympic medals to her name, Ruck calls the Commonwealth Games her “breakout meet.”
“That kind of got me to set my sights higher. I just had so much fun there, that was a really good meet for me and kind of what led to all of this success,” she said.
“I didn’t really have a set number of medals in mind. But I think when it got to No. 6, Ben started putting his sights on eight medals, so I was like, ‘OK, I guess this is attainable.’ ”
Despite her success at the Commonwealth Games and the two Olympic medals, she says she can’t take anything for granted as she works towards the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
“I can’t expect myself to make (the team) at Trials. You can never expect anything for certain,” she said. “But I think as long as I just keep my head down and work hard I’ll be ready.”
Ruck began her college career at Stanford University just a few months ago and the team trains alongside Olympic champions like Katie Ledecky and Simone Manuel.
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