Taylor Ruck
Taylor Ruck was born on May 28th, 2000 in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Her family moved to Scottsdale when she was just ten months old. Currently a sophomore in high school, at 6’, Taylor comes from a tall, athletic family. Her 14 year old brother is already 6’6” tall, and her father is 6’9”. Taylor’s Dad, Colin, played professional hockey in Canada. While the family lives in Arizona, Taylor is still a Canadian citizen and swims internationally for Canada.
Taylor swims for the Scottsdale Aquatic Club and trains under head coach Kevin Zacher.
High School Swimming
Just like her club and high school teammate Ryan Hoffer (boys swimmer of the year), Taylor was named Girls swimmer of the year by Arizona Central News. The distance swimmer made a huge splash in her first year in high school, setting a state record twice in the 200-yard freestyle and setting a Mesa Skyline Aquatics Center venue record in the 500 freestyle. She won the 200 free in 1 minute, 46.76 seconds, breaking the old record of 1:47.06. She captured the 500 free in 4:52.11, more than three seconds faster than the runner-up.
Collegiate Competition
Stanford
2018-2019
Ruck was part of the NCAA champion 800 freestyle relay and third place 200 freestyle relay and 400 freestyle relay teams as a freshman. She also finished sixth with the 400 medley relay. Individually, Ruck was the national runnerup in the 200 freestyle (1:40.37) and 200 backstroke (1:47.59) and finished third in the 100 backstroke (50.34) at the 2019 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships.
2021-2022
After taking an Olympic redshirt year in the 2019-2020 season and then deferring another year to focus on the Olympics after they were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ruck finally returned to Stanford for the 2021-2022 season as a big contributor for the cardinal.
At the NCAA championships, Ruck started things in the 800 free relay, where she split 1:40.39 on the 2nd leg, the fastest split of the entire field, to help Stanford run away with the NCAA crown in the event. The next day, Ruck swam on the 200 free relay which placed 6th.
Individually Ruck got things started in the 200 free, where she won her first NCAA title, touching first at 1:41.12. Later in that same session she also swam in the consolation heat of the 100 back, placing 10th at 51.07. She finished that night by anchoring Stanford’s 400 medley relay in 46.66, which placed 3rd.
On the last night of the meet, Ruck placed 9th in the 200 back (1:50.25) and anchored Stanford’s 400 free relay which placed 2nd.
2022-2023
In her senior season, Ruck defended her NCAA title in the 200 free, touching first in 1:42.36. She also placed 19th in the 50 and 100 free. Ruck helped Stanford to 2nd place finishes in the 200, 400, and 800 free relays as well as a 4th place finish in the 400 medley relay.
National/International Competition
At the Arena Pro Swim Series in Austin, Taylor swam very impressive times in the 100m (1:01.25) and 200m backstrokes (2:10.22).
In 2015 at the Fina World Junior Championships, Taylor anchored Canada’s 4x200m free with a swift 1:56.71, moving Canada from fourth to winning the silver medal. She started the meet winning the bronze in the 100m backstroke, and then won gold in the 100m freestyle. Additionally she anchored Canada’s 4x100m freestyle relay to a gold and world junior record. In the 100-m freestyle, Ruck lowered her meet, personal best and 15-17 national age group record to 53.92 seconds for the victory. It is the third-fastest recorded time ever by a Canadian woman and the third-fastest ever in the world by a 15-year-old, and 16th in the World overall.
Canadian Olympic Trials
Taylor was chosen to represent Canada at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She finished second in the 400m Free, but failed to make the Olympic Qualifying time. She finished fifth in the 200 M free, with a 1:58.67, under the Olympic Qualifying time of 1:58.96. She won the consolation final of the 100m Free. Based on her 200m Free, Taylor was chosen to the Canadian National Team.
2016 Olympic Games
At the 2016 Olympic Games, Ruck won two bronze medals in Rio de Janeiro with the Canadian 4×100 and 4×200 freestyle relay teams.
2016 FINA World Swimming Championships (25m)
Ruck finished in third place, with a time of 1:52.50, smashing the Canadian Record by almost 2 seconds (1:54.73). Ruck also set a new Junior World Record with this swim. At the same meet, Ruck also earned gold medals in the 4×50 and 4×200 free relays, and silver in the 4×100 medley relay.
2017 FINA World Junior Championships
Ruck started the meet in Indianapolis breaking 2 world Jr records in the first finals session. First was the semis of the 100m backstroke, where she claimed the top seed with a 59.28, shaving .06 off the former WJR. She than teamed up with teammates Kayla Sanchez, Penny Oleksiak, and Rebecca Smith to shatter the former 4x200m free relay WJR by over 5 seconds, knocking it down to 7:51.47. The Canadian team went on to win all 5 relays, including both mixed relays, at the meet. Ruck wound up 2nd in the 100 back final (59.23) to American Regan Smith (59.11). However, she bounced back and went on to claim the 200 free title in a new championship record of 1:57.08.
2018 Commonwealth Games
Taylor Ruck led off her Comm Games campaign in a big way, shocking the field on Day 1 with a victory in the 200 free and a huge best time of 1:54.81, also a new Canadian record. Ruck also went on to help her team secure a silver medal in the 400 free relay, splitting a 51.82 anchor leg. On Day 3, Ruck 1-upped herself, earning 3 medals for the day. First she placed 2nd in the 50 free with a 24.26, again breaking a Canadian record. Later in the session, she was back in the pool in the 100 back, racing to bronze with a personal best of 58.97. To cap off the day, she once again anchored team Canada to a silver medal, splitting 1:55.14 on the end of the 800 free relay. On the last 3 days of the meet, Ruck won 1 medal per day, including silver in the 200 back (2:06.42) on Day 4, bronze in the 100 free (53.08) on Day 5, and on Day 6 she anchored the 400 medley relay in 52.54 to give Canada their third silver of the meet. Ruck finished the meet with 8 medals in total, tying the all-time Commonwealth record.
2018 Pan Pacific Championships
Coming off of comm games, Ruck rode the momentum straight to pan pacs, where on night 1 she beat the reigning olympic champion and top seeded Katie Ledecky in the 200 free, touching for gold in a time of 1:54.44. That time broke Ledecky’s meet record that she had set that morning. On day 2, Ruck was back in the 100 free, where she touched in a personal best of 52.72 for bronze behind Cate Campbell and Simone Manuel. Later in the session, Ruck split 1:54.08 on the women’s 4×200 free relay to help the Canadian team garner a bronze medal in the event. On day 3, Ruck helped team Canada once again to a bronze medal, leading off their 3rd place 4×100 free relay in a time of 52.85, the fastest lead off split of the field. On day 4 Ruck had another 2 sensational swims, first in the women’s 200 back, where she touched for silver in a time of 2:06.41. She finished off her pan pacs performance with a 4th place finish in the women’s 4×100 medley relay, anchoring team Canada in a split of 51.72.
2018 Canadian Swimmer of the Year
With stellar performances at both Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacs, Taylor Ruck was SwimSwam’s 2018 Canadian Swimmer of the Year as well as Female World Junior Swimmer of the Year.
2019 World Championships
Ruck started her world championships in the women’s 4×100 free relay, where she split 52.19 on the 2nd leg to help Canada get a bronze medal. On Day 5, Ruck raced in the 4×200 free relay, where she split 1:56.41 to help Canada to a new National record and a bronze medal.
2020 Olympic Games
Ruck started her Games off by swimming in the prelims of the 4×100 free relay on Day 1 of competition. She split 54.16 on the 2nd leg, helping Canada secure a spot in the final. The team went on to finish 2nd behind Australia, netting Ruck a silver medal.
Ruck finished her meet in the 400 medley relay, swimming 59.64 (backstroke) in the prelims to help Canada qualify for the final, where they would go on to win a bronze medal.
2022 World Championships
Ruck started her world champs in the 400 free relay, where she split 52.92 to earn silver. Individually, she swam the 200 free, advancing to the final and placing 8th overall in 1:57.38.
She maintained relay duties for Canada throughout the week, splitting 1:56.75 in the 800 free relay to help Canada collect bronze and swimming in the prelims of the mixed 400 free relay, which went onto win silver in the final.
2022 Short Course World Championships (25m)
In Melbourne, Ruck helped team Canada to a trio of medals, including silver in the 4×200 free relay and bronze (as well as national records) in the 4×100 free and medley relays.
