Sherbrooke, Que. - Owen Daly shook off the disappointment of a seventh-place finish Monday night to finish second in the 50-metre butterfly final and win Newfoundland and Labrador's first medal at the 2013 Canada Summer Games Tuesday night.
Daly claimed the silver after Alberta's Edward Ao Liu touched the wall first, finishing in 24.91 seconds to Daly's 25.09.
A very good time, indeed, for the St. John's Legends swimmer, but not his fastest showing, which is two one-hundreds of a second better.
"I can't complain when it's that close, but it would have been nice to get the gold," said the 6-3, 190-pound 17-year-old from St. John's.
"If swim my best time, I would have won, but I can't complain.
"It wasn't a bad time by any means, but I don't know ..."
Daly appeared to have the lead for most of the very quick race, even up until the final few strokes, before the Albertan reached the wall first.
"I think I did (have the lead). I could see in my peripheral, but I kind of shagged up on my last stroke, which I think Eddie out-touched me," he said.
"It wasn't the best time, but that's all you can do."
Daly is the son of former nationally-ranked swimmer Chris Daly, a 1984 St. John's athlete of the year. Slowly, the son has been breaking some of the father's records, and Tuesday night on the University of Sherbrooke campus, bettered his father at the Canada Games.
In 1981, in Thunder Bay, Ont., Chris Daly won a bronze medal for Newfoundland.
"It's wonderful," said Chris. "You always want your kids to do well.
"He could have done it last night," Chris Daly said of the 100-metre freestyle, which saw Owen swim a time of 51.85, while the winner, Yuri Kisil of Alberta, clocked 51:47.
"The difference between second and third and seventh is just incredible, fractions of a second.
"Owen's had some great results. He's a big boy, a strong kid, who's worked hard."
Especially these past 12 or 14 months.
"I probably slacked off a bit the past couple of years," Owen said, "but I've been going full tilt for the past year and half, and moments like these are totally worth it."
So how does it feel to win the province's first medal?
"The pressure's off," he said, before adding the challenge, "now some other sports should step up."
Today, Daly competes in the 100m butterfly where he again should be in contention for a medal.