Pan Pacific Championships, Night One Finals: Canada’s Blake Tierney Rallies for Gold in 100 Backstroke
Prior to Wedneday night, the lone medal Blake Tierney had earned in international competition arrived in the 100-meter backstroke at the Pan American Games in 2023. That visit to Santiago, Chile produced a bronze medal for the Canadian, who represented his country a year later at the 2024 Olympic Games.
But Tierney came through with the finest performance of his career on Wednesday night to grab the gold medal in the 100 back at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California. Facing a deficit to American Will Modglin at the turn, Tierney battled back over the last lap and touched the wall in 53.18, clear of the 53.37 turned in by Modglin. The bronze medal went to the United States’ Jack Aikins in 53.46.
Tierney and Modglin fought stroke for stroke into the wall, almost crashing arms over the lane line as the Canadian hugged the right side of his lane and Modglin favored the left side. Ultimately, it was Tierney who got the victory, fighting through the difficulty of swimming backstroke outdoors and against a night sky.
“I saw (Modglin) and tried to do my best to catch him and get my hand on the wall first,” Tierney said. “I did a lot of work this year and had the finishing speed. I’ve never swam outside in the dark before and the light was reflecting. I just hoped I didn’t hit the rope.”
Modglin took the race out fast, splitting 25.40 to the 25.72 of Tierney. Coming off the turn, Tierney ate into his deficit and pulled even with Modglin with about 20 meters to go. Heading into the wall, the Canadian had a clear edge and capped the biggest victory of his career.
Out of the University of Texas, Modglin actually posted the fastest time of the day with his 53.17 mark from the morning prelims. But he couldn’t duplicate that performance en route to the silver medal. This is the second consecutive summer in which Modglin has grabbed a silver medal in international competition, following his runnerup finish at the 2025 World University Games. At that meet, Modglin went 52.54.
The United States remains in need of a 100 backstroker who can get into low-52 territory, or sub-52, to stay with the rest of the world. While Modglin and Aikins remain in the picture, veteran Ryan Murphy has been sub-53 this season and continues to work his way back to form after taking time off after the 2024 Olympics.
Aikins is confident the backstroke answer will be located.
“There’s several guys that are capable of taking that spot and those two spots in any team for the next couple of years,” Aikins said. “And I think that’s really exciting because we have so much talent in the USA and in backstroke, and there’s a tradition of being really dominant in the backstroke events. So I think there’s a bunch of guys that can really step up, and it makes us really deep, and it’s really exciting for the USA.”
