BANGKOK, Thailand (CIS) Gold, bronze, and now silver.

Yukon swimmer Mackenzie Downing, who lives and trains at the University of Victoria, completed the medal hat trick this morning at the 2007 FISU Summer Universiade, with a second-place finish in the 200-metre butterfly.

Downing captured the silver medal after touching with a big personal best of 2:08.83. The 20-year old Greek and Roman studies major also won gold in the 100-m fly near the start of competition, and a bronze in the medley relay.

'I'm pretty excited,' Downing said after today's race. 'I've been trying to break 2:10 for a while and I didn't do it at worlds, so I just wanted to come in and have a great race.

'This morning I felt really good so tonight I just wanted to use my speed and come back hard and it worked.'

Downing finished second to Montreal-native Audrey Lacroix, who lowered her own Canadian record and broke the longest-standing women's Universiade record in winning the event in two minutes, 6.83 seconds.

'I think it was good for me swimming right beside (Audrey) because it was just like back home,' said Downing. 'It kind of took off the extra pressure.

'There were a lot of girls in that field who had gone 2:08, so I knew that they might go out really fast. I tried to put that out of my head and think, It's just me and Audrey, just like old times,' and it made it less nerve wracking for me.'

Lacroix, who watched Downing erase her Canadian record in the 100-m fly earlier in the schedule, was proud to be on the podium next to her teammate and domestic rival.

'It was pretty cool because we're both working really hard,' said Lacroix. 'We know we have to be fast because the other one is right there and it's a good thing for both of us. Every opportunity to swim against each other we use to learn new things and to become better swimmers.

'Mackenzie improved tonight and I did too.'

Canadian swimmers won 10 medals, including four gold, at the Games, compared to three at the 2003 Universiade in Turkey.

Overall at the Universiade, Canadian swimmers broke five national records, two Universiade records and set 28 personal bests.

The medley relay team of Downing, Kelly Stefanyshyn (Winnipeg), Annamay Pierse (Edmonton) and Seanna Mitchell (Manotick, Ont.) lowered the Canadian record by more than one second Monday, clocking four minutes, 4.52 seconds en route to bronze.

The old mark of 4:05.59 was set at last year's Pan Pacific Championship and also featured Stefanyshyn and Downing.

Downing broke the Canadian record in the 100-m fly Friday with a time of 58.88 seconds, one-hundredth quicker than Lacroix's previous record. She also set a personal best in the 50-m fly.

'It was a really good race for me,' said Downing, who entered Friday's final ranked first, following the win.

'(Friday) morning, I went out a little bit too hard because I was nervous, and (Friday night) I just wanted to go out and make the first 50 feel real easy. It did, so I just came off that wall and tried to bring it home as hard as I could.'

Downing is one of Canada's rising stars, coming off a sweep of the butterfly events at the recent Canadian senior nationals. She also captured gold in the 800-m freestyle at senior nationals.

She is still working on her showmanship, however, forgoing any sort of reaction at the finish for a more internal celebration.

'I was really happy,' she said, 'but I was just so relieved. I was so nervous coming into it and when I looked up at the clock a wave of relief just washed over me.'

Still remaining on her summer competition schedule is a major international competition in Japan.

Downing's 2007

Championship Medals

FISU Summer Universiade

(Aug. 10-14)

GOLD 100 m fly

SILVER 200 m fly

BRONZE 4x100 medley relay

Canadian Senior Nationals

(July 27-29)

GOLD 50 m fly

GOLD 100 m fly

GOLD 200 m fly

GOLD 800 m freestyle

CIS Championships

(Feb. 22-24)

SILVER 100 m fly

SILVER 50 m fly

SILVER 200 m fly

SILVER 800 m freestyle

Canada West Championships

(Jan. 19-21)

GOLD 200 m fly

SILVER 100 m fly

SILVER 400 m freestyle

With files from Marc Weber, Team Canada Sports Information.