SWIM RECAP DAY 6: Ashley McMillan captures FISU bronze in women’s 200m individual medley
Penticton B.C. native Ashley McMillan captured Canada’s first FISU Swimming medal of the 2025 Summer Games, winning bronze in the women’s 200m individual medley.
Racing out of lane three, McMillan touched the wall third with a time of 2:12.63. The USC Trojan was in fourth after the opening 50m of butterfly, before jumping ahead into second thanks to a strong backstroke leg. McMillan kept pace with the two Americans in the lead, holding off Italian Chiara Della Corte for the final spot on the podium.
“It was amazing. It’s just a culmination of the whole team’s efforts, and I’m super excited I got to be on the podium today,” said McMillan. “I took some risks and tried something new today, and went out a little bit faster. It was great to be out there competing, everyone in that field is amazing.”
It’s Canada’s fourth medal in total at the 2025 World University Games in Germany, and Canada’s first FISU medal in the pool since 2019. McMillan is also the first Canadian to medal in the women’s 200m IM since 1999.
“Getting to represent Canada as well as my university is super special.”
Florida Gator Julie Brousseau (Ottawa, Ont. / Florida) placed seventh in the women’s 200m freestyle as the other Canadian in a final on Tuesday night. Brousseau improved on her time from Monday’s semifinal, but her 1:58.87 time in the final put her a second behind podium pace.
Two other Canadians earned spots in their respective finals tomorrow, with both Ben Loewen (200m backstroke) and Shona Branton (100m breaststroke) advancing following strong semifinal heats in the evening session.
Loewen (Toronto, Ont. / Toronto) started his day with a 1:59.82 time in the third heat, advancing with the sixth fastest time overall. He backed it up with an impressive 1:58.17 in the first semifinal, advancing comfortably with the fifth fastest time.
Loewen will swim for a medal at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday night.
Branton (Port Lambton, Ont. / Western) advanced to her second final of the 2025 Games, moving forward with a 100m breaststroke time of 1:07.82, second fastest among all 16 swimmers in the semifinal. Branton had an excellent second leg of 36:00 seconds, finishing second in her heat.
Branton will swim for gold at 7:08 p.m. tomorrow.
Elsewhere in the pool, Delia Lloyd (27th/26.42s) and Emma O’Croinin (31st/26.97s) missed out on advancing in the women’s 50m freestyle, with Chris Weeks (22nd/22.89s) and Liam Weaver (29th/23.09s) suffering the same fate in the men’s 50m freestyle heats.
Three Canadians will compete as individuals on Wednesday morning in the final set of heats, with swimming coming to an end after seven days of competition at Europasportpark Berlin.