Ryan Cochrane of Victoria broke a meet record Thursday in the men's 800-metre free on the first night of the Santa Clara International Grand Prix swimming competition.
Cochrane, the Olympic bronze medallist in the 1,500 freestyle who is currently tuning up for next month's world championships, swam in seven minutes 52.18 seconds for the win.
He was followed by Peter Vanderkaay of the United States, who finished second in 8:00.87. Australia's Ryan Napoleon was third with a time of 8:08.11.
"The time was impressive considering the block of work he has done since the world trials (in April)," said Cochrane's coach Randy Bennett.
"It's a pretty positive sign. He did a lot of things well in the race and he won a lot of battles at the turns against a tough field."
Tyra Rooney of Calgary was seventh in the women's 1,500.