Day 3 | Thursday, December 15th
Written by:
Andy Ross, FINA Correspondent
The Melbourne crowd was sold out and
two of the biggest stars in Australia, Emma McKeon & Kyle Chalmers made
Melbourne the happiest place on Earth on Thursday evening
Women’s 100m Freestyle - Emma McKeon
lights up Melbourne with 100m freestyle gold medal
Temperatures may have been chilly,
barely breaching 16 degrees Celsius at the hottest point of the day, but the
racing was sure hot on Thursday evening in Melbourne as Olympic champion Emma
McKeon got the ball rolling for Australia.
We said this would be one of the
can’t miss races of the meet, and it lived up to the hype as the gold and
silver medallist from the Olympics - McKeon and Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong,
China, were racing for the first time since the Games.
“I actually feel like this is the
first time that I have felt a little pressure, but maybe that’s because so many
came to watch,” McKeon said. “It's a different kind of pressure, but one that I
have enjoyed.”
McKeon took the race out the first
50, turning at 24.41 to Haughey’s 24.59. The Aussie held the lead through the
75, and the crowd could feel Haughey closing with every stroke as they willed
McKeon to the wall. And she did not disappoint.
McKeon won the first gold medal of
the night with a 50.77 to break the championship record of 50.98 set by Haughey
last year. It’s not a best time for McKeon, who was the first woman to ever
break 50 seconds in a relay on Tuesday, but it was good enough for her second
gold medal of the competition. Haughey won silver in 50.87.
That was way too close. It was a
tight finish but what counts is getting your hand on the wall first, that's
everything.”
By Emma McKeon
“My family are in the stands tonight
including both of my grandparents who don't get to see that many of my meets. I
think it’s the first time since the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
I wanted to win for them as well. My
grandparents, my parents and my brother have been my biggest supporters. I
could always hear them.”
“My plan was to feel strong in the
first 50m, but not go too fast,” Haughey said. “So I think I executed that. My
main target for the meet is the 200m Freestyle, so that’s my focus now.”
Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands
picked up the bronze with a 51.25, ahead of Australia’s Madison Wilson (51.70).
Men’s 100m Freestyle - King Kyle
Chalmers takes his throne back as world’s fastest man
He had talked about being
“bullet-proof” come the World short course during the entirety of the final
stop of the World Swimming Cup last month. He had talked all about looking
forward to the fight, looking forward to racing the best guys in the world on
his home soil in December. He talked about nearing his own world record he set
in the weeks after last year’s Olympics.
On Thursday evening in Melbourne,
Kyle Chalmers backed up all the talk, living up to expectations that he was
going to be extremely tough to beat in his home nation in an international
final. Chalmers, out in 21.63, back in 23.53, won the gold medal in 45.16 to
cap off what was a difficult 2022.
Tomorrow is one year to the day since
I had shoulder surgery, which almost potentially ended my career, so for me to
be back and standing on top of the podium is very special. Everyone faces
challenges in their swimming career and it's about people who can rise above
those challenges and continue to find ways to win.
By Kyle Chalmers
With this race being all about the
clash between Chalmers, the short course world record holder, and David
Popovici, the long course world record holder, it also featured last year’s
champ Alessandro Miressi and the silver medallist from June’s Worlds in Maxime
Grousset.
Chalmers was in second place through
75 meters, sitting behind Jordan Crooks of the Cayman Islands who will surely
be tough to beat in the 50m, and the Australian used his dynamite finish the
final 25, splitting 11.85 to win the gold medal over Grousset (45.41) and
Miressi (45.57).
“After last night, I knew that I had
a lot more to go for tonight,” Chalmers said. “I have been around for a long
time, and I know the mind games that sometimes go on. I pride myself on
progressing and swimming faster in each round.
“I swam with my eyes closed. I knew
exactly how to execute my own race. If I close my eyes, then I don't get
carried away swimming someone else's race. I just close my eyes and try to get
my hand on the wall as fast as I can.”
Chalmers is the first Australian
champion in this event since Ashley Callus in 2002.
“I don't think it's a relief, I think
it is something that I am so proud of. It's something that I dreamed of doing
since I was a kid.
“I had to pull out of the last three
world short course championships due to injuries and health issues. So for me
to finally make it to one and to stand on the top of the podium is something I
am going to remember for the rest of my life.”
The Australian crowd showed out
Thursday, the largest of the three finals days thus far, all to see McKeon and
Chalmers back on top.
“It's always special to have the
support of friends and family,” Chalmers said. “If I can inspire the next
generation to swim and perform then I have done my job.
The only one quicker than Chalmers
over the final 25, Popovici, was fourth at 45.64 in a new world junior record.
Crooks faded to sixth at 45.77 in a tie with China’s Pan Zhanle, who broke the
Asian record.
Women’s 200m Butterfly - Dakota
Luther breaks through for first ever gold
USA’s Dakota Luther swam a very
controlled race to win her first ever international medal on the senior stage,
with a 2:03.37 in the 200m butterfly on Thursday evening in Melbourne. Luther,
a legacy national team member, whose mother, Whitney Hedgepeth, swam on two
Olympic teams and won three medals at a home Games in 1996, led a 1-2 finish
with Hali Flickinger (2:03.78), who adds another medal to her growing
collection.
Luther, who was a promising young
star in 2017 when she made the World Championships team for Budapest as a high
school student, hadn’t returned to the senior team until this year, as she has
recently shifted her training location back to her hometown of Austin, Texas
with coach Carol Capitani. Flickinger had led the first 150 meters, before
Luther kicked it into gear on the final 50, passing the veteran on the final 50
to claim the gold medal as they both sang the Star Spangled Banner on the
podium together.
It is the first American gold medal
in this event since 2008 when Mary Descenza won in Manchester.
It's crazy. I just wanted to put
myself into that race, I knew that Hali (Flickinger - USA) was coming. I wasn't
nervous, I was talking and laughing in the ready room.
By Dakota Luther
“I’m happy with that,” Flickinger
said. “I’m just trying to enjoy the sport again as I’m going through some stuff
mentally. So I’m just really happy to be finding the fun again.
The bronze went to Australia’s
Elizabeth Dekkers, who moved steadily in third place throughout the back half
from lane 1, nearly running down Flickinger on the final 50 to finish in third
at 2:03.94. The Australians continue to deliver in a home World Championships
as the team has 15 total medals halfway through the competition.
Men’s 200m Butterfly - Chad Le Clos
back on top thanks to characteristic finish
South Africa’s superstar Chad Le Clos
returned to the podium on Thursday at the World Short Course championships
almost like he never left. Even though he is a three-time 200m butterfly
champion at this meet, and has won medals in five of the last six 200m
butterfly finals, Le Clos hadn’t won any major 200m butterfly final since 2017.
After a tumultuous Tokyo Olympic
preparation that he has been open about in recent months, Le Clos returned to
the top, swimming a lifetime best time with a 1:48.27, a new African record to
keep him third all-time.
Le Clos, who now trains with Dirk
Lange in Germany, shed tears in the pool and on the podium.
It means so much to me and my family.
I have no words, I am just so grateful that I have my coach behind me. I am
coming from such a tough place right now, and I am sorry that I am emotional.
To be a world champion is like a dream come true again.
By Chad Le Clos
“I have been waiting so long for this
moment. I have been waiting four years to become world champion again. It comes
after defeat after defeat. Tonight I had to fight back against defeat. Thank
you to my coach and thank you to my team.”
The silver went to Japan’s Daiya Seto
(1:49.22), who briefly held the lead at the 175, but was run down by Le Clos
and his dolphin kicks on the final 25. Switzerland’s Noe Ponti won the bronze
at 1:49.42.
Last year’s champ Alberto Razzetti
(1:50.12) was fourth while the race leader through 150 meters, Trenton Julian,
faded badly to seventh at 1:50.94.
Women’s 100m Breaststroke - Lilly
King is the breaststroke queen once more
Following the theme of champion
swimmers returning to the top of the podium, American Lilly King won a 100m
breaststroke final for the first time since 2019.
King had been dynamite in the 100m
breaststroke final for three years leading into the 2020 Olympics, but was
out-swum in Tokyo, finishing with the bronze medal. In Budapest this past
summer, she was still recovering from COVID where she missed the podium
entirely. She was able to rebound and win the 200m in Budapest, but the 100m
gold medal was one King really wanted to get back, and up against one of her
long-time rivals and one of the best to ever do it in Ruta Meilutyte, King won
on the very last stroke in Melbourne with a 1:02.67.
It's great to be back, In 2016, I was
at the meet and I thought I was invincible and Alia (Atkinson) played me like a
fiddle and whipped my butt. I have had that sour taste in my mouth for the last
six years and its good to get the title back.
By Lilly King
King is the first American gold
medalist since Rebecca Soni won in 2010.
“I talked with my coach Ray (Looze)
this morning and he told me I needed to be out first at the 50m,” King said. “I
don't know that I was, but I went out as hard as I could and prayed I could
hold out at the end.”
Meilutyte had initially touched
second, but drew a disqualification for more than one dolphin kicks off the
wall.
The silver went to Tes Schouten
(1:03.90) of the Netherlands with Germany’s Anna Elendt (1:04.05) winning the
bronze from lane 8, just ahead of last year’s champ Tang Qianting (1:04.06) of
China.
16th FINA World Swimming
Championships (25m) Day 3_LargeImage_m30189
Image Source: World Aquatics/Morgan Hancock
“I’m so happy,” Schouten said. “When
I touched the board I didn’t know what to think. I was trying to look at the
lights on the blocks, and I thought I wasn’t even getting a medal. And then I
looked at the board, and I was like what! How did I not see that!”
Men’s 100m Breaststroke - Nic Fink
gets long awaited 100m breaststroke gold medal
After winning nine finals at the
World Swimming Cup, we knew Nic Fink was going to be tough to beat in the 100m
breaststroke final in Melbourne, even with World long course champion Nicolo
Martinenghi and Olympic champion Adam Peaty surrounding him.
16th FINA World Swimming
Championships (25m) Day 3_LargeImage_m30076
Image Source: World Aquatics/Morgan Hancock
But Fink continued his hot streak,
winning the final at 55.88 over Martinenghi (56.07) and Peaty (56.25).
Fink played to his strengths, taking
the lead at the 50m at 26.04, with Peaty in second and Martinenghi in fifth.
Fink has had success across all three breaststroke distances, winning both the
50m and 200m breaststroke at last year’s World short course championships, but
hadn’t gotten that elusive 100m gold medal. On Thursday, he held off
Martinenghi in a season best time.
I am really happy with this result,
this is a good one to start the meet with and I am looking forward to defend
the other two (breaststroke) events as well. I was really happy with the world
cup season and completing the trifecta (50-100-200).
By Nic Fink
Fink is the first American to win
gold since Brendan Hansen in 2004.
Peaty, who has been coming off an
injury that kept him out of the World Championships in June, returned to the
podium for the first time at a major world meet since the Olympics, even if it
wasn’t the color of medal he is used to.
I don't get bronze that often, so
that will be a weird one for Wikipedia,
By Adam Peaty
Peaty said. "It's great to be
back in the arena; I am just enjoying the sport again. I am disappointed, but I
am not going to allow myself to be. I have been putting in a lot of hard work
but they just out-skilled me tonight. It is what it is; I am what I am.
Peaty is arguably the best
breaststroker of all-time based on his performances in the long course venue,
and with a return to the podium tonight, it sets up an intriguing matchup come
July at the World Championships in Fukuoka.
“I am looking forward to a long
course season after this week,” Peaty said. “I am looking forward to a
challenge and this is the high that I need. I feel pure anger which is very
dangerous. I am loving it. I have come back from hell really. I had a lot of
personal things that I had to take care of.
“If you don't give 110% to this sport
it will take 110% out of you and you will lose.”
Men’s 400m Freestyle - Kieran Smith
holds off Thomas Neill to capture first individual gold medal
American Kieran Smith finally won his
first individual gold medal after showing a lot of promise in the United States
domestically. Smith led the 400m freestyle final from start to finish to win at
3:34.38, breaking the American record to move him to fifth all-time.
Smith needed to use his opening 200m
speed in order to hold off the rest of the field, and he did just that, as
Australia’s Thomas Neill was ready to pounce if Smith fell off pace, but
ultimately the 20-year-old won his senior level medal with a 3:35.05 for the
silver.
It’s the first time that I have been
at the top of the podium so it's a new chapter in my career. It was an exciting
race and I knew that those guys were going to be tough, but I was ready.
By Kieran Smith
“You could tell from my face at the
finish that my body was burning. I always like to swim races from the front,
it's the way I swim confidently. I knew that I had to pay the ultimate price in
order to win.”
Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys came on
strong on the back half to win the bronze at 3:36.26, running down Katsuhiro
Matsumoto (3:36.87), who was in third place the whole way until the 375m turn.
Melbourne’s own Mack Horton was
hardly a factor in the race, finishing sixth at 3:37.94.
Smith is the first American to win
gold since Chad Carvin won in 2000.
Women’s 4x50m Freestyle Relay - Kate
Douglass splits 22.77 to hold off Australia
It almost looked to be a repeat of
the 4x100m freestyle relay from Tuesday, with Australia’s Emma McKeon closing
hard for the home nation against the Americans, but the United States was able
to hold their own and capture their first single gender relay of the 16th World
Swimming Championships (25m) in Melbourne.
The team of Torri Huske (24.08),
Claire Curzan (23.30), Erika Brown (23.74), and Kate Douglass (22.77) broke the
championship and American record with a 1:33.89 to win the gold medal ahead of
Australia at 1:34.23. The Americans had the lead after the second and third
exchange, and when Douglass dove into the pool against McKeon, with the crowd
roaring, it almost felt like deja vu for the American team desperate of getting
a relay gold medal. But Douglass touched the wall first.
McKeon’s anchor split of 22.73 tied
her for the fastest ever on a relay with Ranomi Kromowidjojo while Douglass put
herself third on the all-time list.
The Australians, who had set world
records in both the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays, won their first women’s
relay silver medal with the team of Meg Harris (23.98), Madison Wilson (23.51),
Mollie O’Callaghan (24.01), and McKeon (22.73).
The Netherlands won the bronze medal,
extending their podium streak in this event, having never missed a podium since
the event made its debut in 2014. The team of Kim Busch (24.20), Maaike de
Waard (23.47), Kira Toussaint (24.01), and Valerie Van Roon (23.68) continued
on the legacy for Dutch sprinting with the bronze medal.
Men’s 4x50m Freestyle Relay - Kyle
Chalmers storms home to run down Italians in electric gold medal
Perhaps the men’s star of the night,
Australia’s Kyle Chalmers looked like Ian Thorpe in 2000 on the final leg of
the 4x50m freestyle relay, storming home in a 20.34, easily the fastest in the
entire field, to claim gold for the host nation with a 1:23.44.
Chalmers, who looked like the
Chalmers of old on Thursday evening, winning his second gold medal of the night
after a cracker in the 100m freestyle, was joined by Isaac Cooper (21.25),
Matthew Temple (20.75) and Flynn Southam (21.10) in singing Advance Australia
Fair to close the night in the Victorian capital.
The Italians looked to win the gold
after leading through 150, but finished with the silver at 1:23.48, with the
team of Alessandro Miressi (21.22), Leonardo Deplano (20.59), Thomas Ceccon
(20.67), and Manuel Frigo (21.00). The Italians, the winners of the 4x100m
freestyle, have been the standout men’s team at the championships thus far.
The Netherlands won bronze at 1:23.75
with Kenzo Simons (21.24), Nyls Korstanje (20.84), Stan Pijnenburg (20.95), and
Thom de Boer (20.72) ahead of Japan (1:23.80) and the United States (1:24.03).
Semi-finals wrap
Women’s 50m Backstroke semi-finals
American Claire Curzan is the top
seed for the final with a 25.60 as she is ahead of 50m butterfly champ and
world record holder Maggie Mac Neil (25.64) and 100m backstroke silver medalist
Mollie O’Callaghan (25.69). Canada’s Kylie Masse (25.97) and Sweden’s Louise
Hansson (25.99) also seem to have outside shots at medals in a race with such
little room for error.
Men’s 50m Backstroke semi-finals
Isaac Cooper broke the world junior
record to grab the top seed at 22.52 and smash Kliment Kolesnikov’s 22.77 from
2018. The Australian Cooper, age 18, is ahead of 100m champion Ryan Murphy
(22.74), Kacper Stokowski (22.74), and World Cup triple crown winner Dylan
Carter (22.90). Also watch for South Africa’s Pieter Coetze, who was the World
Juniors silver medalist in this event in August, as he is seeded fourth at
22.86.
Women’s 100m IM semi-finals
The Netherlands and Sweden, two of
the top nations in women’s sprint swimming, have the top two spots in
tomorrow’s 100m IM final, led by Marrit Steenbergen (57.65) of the Netherlands
and Louise Hansson (58.05) of Sweden. France’s Beryl Gastaldello, who nearly
won the World Cup triple crown in November, is lurking in fourth place at
58.61, behind Canada’s Sydney Pickrem (58.54).
Men’s 100m IM semi-finals
USA’s Michael Andrew (51.40) and
Shaine Casas (51.42) turned in the top two times in the semifinals as France’s
Maxime Grousset had beaten both of them to the wall, but drew a
disqualification. Andrew has a chance to follow up his initial breakout gold
medal from 2016 when he was 17, as the top seed for tomorrow’s final, while
Casas is looking to avenge a disappointing 200m IM on Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment