Australia take gold at the World Swimming Championships with Kyle Chalmers’ men’s victory and Emma McKeon’s women’s victory.
Australians Kyle Chalmers and Emma McKeon were crowned king and queen of the 100m freestyle on Thursday at the World Short Course Swimming Championships in front of their home crowd in Melbourne.
Chalmers won in 45 sec 16 ahead of Frenchman Maxime Grousset and Italian Alessandro Miressi, while Romanian prodigy David Popovici took fourth place.
Popovici and his lack of experience
«It’s really special to do it in front of my friends and family“Said Chalmers. “I swim with my eyes closed and I know exactly how to run my course.»
«I think it’s always important in these great moments to swim the way you want to swim and the way you train and not get distracted by the other guys.“, he continued. Popovici, who finished just off the podium, holds the world record for the queen race in the long course, but admitted he still lacks experience in the 25m pool.
Among the women, Emma McKeon, the most awarded sportswoman at the Tokyo Olympics last year with seven medals, dominated the race in 50 sec 77. She narrowly edged defending Hong Kong champion Siobhan Haughey and Dutch Marrit Steenbergen . “The finish was very tightacknowledged McKeon, who helped the Australians set a world record in the 4x100m freestyle relay on Tuesday.
In the other races, Briton Adam Peaty, in the recovery phase after suffering a broken foot, could only take third place in the 100m breaststroke final, won by American Nick Fink. South African veteran Chad Le Clos won the 200m butterfly title for the fourth time after 2010, 2014 and 2016.