There are days when it becomes absolutely clear that the United States is the world’s undisputed power in swimming and Saturday’s evening session at the 2019 FINA World Championships was one of those.
Six events and five American victories, including a second consecutive World Championships for Caeleb Dressel with three gold medals in one night. Event-by-event:
● Dressel won the 50 m Freestyle, as expected, with his now-familiar rocket start, coming up out of the water first and building his advantage to the wall. He finished in 21.04, busting his own American Record of 21.15 from the 2017 Worlds and the fourth-fastest time in history. The other three – two by Cesar Cielo Filho (BRA) and one by Fred Bousquet (FRA) – came in the plastic suit era in 2009.
● He came back 34 minutes later in the 100 m Butterfly, in which he had set the world record (49.50) in the semifinals, and won again, with the second-fastest time in history in 49.66. Dressel was superb from the start, getting into the water first and charging to a 41/100ths lead after the first length of the pool (!), then coming home faster than everyone else by 76/100ths! Behind him was Russia’s Andrei Minakov (50.83) and the third career medal in the event for South Africa’s Chad le Clos (51.16).
● The women’s 200 m Backstroke final was a confirmation that Regan Smith’s world-record time of 2:03.35 in the semis was no fluke. She destroyed the field, swimming the second-fastest time in history in 2:03.69, winning by more than 2.5 seconds over Australia’s Kaylee McKeown (2:06.26). Prior to Gwangju, no one had ever swum this event in less than 2:04; Smith has now done it twice in two days.
● Katie Ledecky swam an unusual race in the 800 m Free. It started our normally for her, leading the field from the start, but barely in front through 400 m, timing 4:04.90 to 4:05.38 for Italy’s Simona Quadarella. Then Quadarella turned up the pressure, putting in a hard third 200 m segment and taking the lead from Ledecky with four laps to go, 6:10.15-6:10.99. It stayed just that close, with the Italian winner of the 1,500 m taking the final turn first in 7:44.21, 18/100ths faster than Ledecky, but then it was over. Ledecky summoned her reserve strength and powered home in 29.19 to 30.78 for Quadrella, finishing her fourth straight Worlds 800 m title in 8:13.58 to 8:14.99 for the Italian.
It’s not the dominant Ledecky of prior Worlds, but the determination to see this fourth 800 m Free title through, given her circumstances, has to be one of her most satisfying. She now owns the top 22 times in the history of the event.
● The U.S. quartet of Dressel (47.34), Zach Apple (47.34), Mallory Comerford (52.72) and Simone Manuel (52.00) finished off the session with a world record of 3:19.40 in the Mixed 4×100 m Free, shaving 0.20 off the U.S. team’s 2017 winning time. Australia was a close second in 3:19.97, with Bronte Campbell on anchor.
Wow! Dressel now has six golds at this Worlds and could tie his 2017 total of seven golds with the 4×100 m Medley Relay remaining.
The one event the U.S. didn’t win was the opening event of the program, the third straight World Championships victory in the 50 m Butterfly for Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom. Already the world-record holder at 24.43, she won in 25.02, a time still faster than anyone else in history. American Kelsi Dahlia equaled her American Record of 25.48, but missed the bronze medal by 0.01 to Egypt’s Farida Osman.
In the women’s 50 m Free semis, Sjostrom led all qualifiers, including Cate Campbell (AUS) and Manuel of the U.S., and Lilly King led all qualifiers in the women’s 50 m Breaststroke semifinals.
The five wins shoots the U.S. to 22 medals overall at this Worlds (11-6-5), ahead of Australia (17:5-8-4) and Russia (3-6-3). Eight events remain on the program for Sunday. Summaries so far:
FINA World Aquatics Championships
Gwangju (KOR) ~ 12-28 July 2019
(Full results here)
SWIMMING
Men
50 m Freestyle: 1. Caeleb Dressel (USA), 21.04 (American Record; old, 21.15, Dressel, 2017); 2. tie, Bruno Fratus (BRA) and Kristian Gkolomeev (GRE), 21.45; 4. Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 21.53; 5. Ben Proud (GBR), 21.55; 6. Michael Andrew (USA), 21.62; 7. Pawel Juraszek (POL), 21.67; 8. Shinri Shioura (JPN), 21.81.
100 m Freestyle: 1. Dressel (USA), 46.96 (American Record; old, 47.17, Dressel, 2018); 2. Kyle Chalmers (AUS), 47.08; 3. Vladislav Grinev (RUS), 47.82; 4. Blake Pieroni (USA), 47.86; 5. Marcelo Chierighini (ITA), 47.93; 6. Nandor Nemeth (HUN), 48.10; 7. Clement Mignon (FRA), 48.43; 8. Breno Correia (BRA), 48.90.
200 m Freestyle: 1. Yang Sun (CHN), 1:44.93; 2. Katsuhiro Matsumoto (JPN), 1:45.22; 3. tie, Martin Malyutin (RUS) and Duncan Scott (GBR), 1:45.63; 5. Filippo Megli (ITA), 1:45.67; 6. Clyde Lewis (AUS), 1:45.78; 7. Dominik Kozma (HUN), 1:45.90; disqualified – Danas Rapsys (LTU).
400 m Freestyle: 1. Sun (CHN), 3:42.44; 2. Mack Horton (AUS), 3:43.17; 3. Gabriele Detti (ITA), 3:43.23; 4. Danas Rapsys (LTU), 3:43.50; 5. Marco de Tullio (ITA), 3:44.86; 6. Xinjie Ji (CHN), 3:45.64; 8. Zane Grothe (USA), 3:45.78.
800 m Freestyle: 1. Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA), 7:39.27; 2. Henrik Christiansen (DEN), 7:41.28; 3. David Aubry (FRA), 7:42.08; 4. Jack McLoughlin (AUS), 7:42.64; 5. Gabriele Detti (ITA), 7:43.89; 6. Sun (CHN), 7:45.01; 7. Sergii Frolov (RUS), 7:47.32; 8. Mykhallo Romanchuk (UKR), 7:49.32.
4×100 m Freestyle: 1. United States (Caeleb Dressel, Blake Pieroni, Zach Apple, Nathan Adrian), 3:09.06; 2. Russia (Grinev, Morozov, Kolesnikov, Rylov), 3:09.97; 3. Australia (McEvoy, Lewis, Graham, Chalmers), 3:11.22; 4. Italy, 3:11.39; 5. Great Britain, 3:11.81; 6. Brazil, 3:11.99; 7. Hungary, 3:12.85; 8. France, 3:13.34.
4×200 m Freestyle: 1. Australia (Clyde Lewis, Kyle Chalmers, Alexander Graham, Mack Horton), 7:00.85; 2. Russia (Dovgalyuk, Vekovishchev, Krasnykh, Malyutin), 7:01.81; 3. United States (Andrew Seliskar, Blake Pieroni, Zach Apple, Townley Haas), 7:01.98; 4. Italy, 7:02.01; 5. Great Britain, 7:02.04; 6. China 7:04.74; 7. Brazil, 7:07.64; 8. Germany, 7:07.65.
100 m Backstroke: 1. Jiayu Xu (CHN), 52.43; 2. Evgeny Rylov (RUS), 52.67; 3. Mitch Larkin (AUS), 52.77; 4. Ryan Murphy (USA), 52.78; 5. Matt Grevers (USA), 52.82; 6. Ryosuke Irie (JPN), 53.22; 7. Guilherme Guido (BRA), 53.26; 8. Robert Glinta (ROU), 54.22.
200 m Backstroke: 1. Evgeny Rylov (RUS), 1:53.40; 2. Murphy (USA), 1:54.12; 3. Luke Greenbank (GBR), 1:55.85; 4. Radoslaw Kawecki (POL), 1:56.37; 5. Ryosuke Irie (JPN), 1:56.52; 6. Jacob Pebley (USA), 1:56.72; 7. Adam Telegdy (HUN), 1:56.86; 8. Markus Thornmeyer (CAN), 1:58.50.
50 m Breaststroke: 1. Adam Peaty (GBR), 26.06; 2. Felipe Lima (BRA), 26.66; 3. Joao Gomes Jr. (BRA), 26.69; 4. Kirill Prigoda (RUS), 26.72; 5. Ilya Shymanovich (BLR), 26.85; 6. Zibei Yan (CHN), 26.86; 7. Andrew (USA), 26.93; disqualified – Fabio Scozzoli (ITA).
100 m Breaststroke: 1. Peaty (GBR), 57.14; 2. James Wilby (GBR), 58.46; 3. Zibei Yan (CHN), 58.63; 4. Yashuhiro Koseki (JPN), 58.93; 5. Prigoda (RUS), 59.09; 6. Andrew Wilson (USA), 59.11; 7. Dmitriy Balandin (KAZ), 59.14; 8. Anton Chupkov (RUS), 59.19. (In semifinals: Peaty, 56.88, World Record; old, 57.10, Peaty, 2018).
200 m Breaststroke: 1. Anton Chupkov (RUS), 2:06.12 (World Record; old, 2:06.67, Ippei Watanabe (JPN), 2017, and Matthew Wilson (AUS), in semifinals); 2. Matthew Wilson (AUS), 2:06.68; 3. Ippei Watanabe (JPN), 2:06.73; 4. Zac Stubblety-Cook (RSA), 2:07.36; 5. Marco Koch (GER), 2:07.60; 6. Wilson (USA), 2:08.10; 7. Dmitriy Balandin (KAZ), 2:08.25; 8. Erik Persson (SWE), 2:08.39.
50 m Butterfly: 1. Dressel (USA), 22.35 (American Record; old, 22.57, Dressel, in semifinals); 2. Oleg Kostin (RUS), 22.70; 3. Nicholas Santos (BRA), 22.79; 4. Michael Andrew (USA), 22.80; 5. Szebasztian Szabo (HUN), 22.90; 6. Andrii Govorov (UKR), 22.91; 7. Benjamin Proud (GBR), 23.01; 8. Andrey Zhilkin (RUS), 23.11.
100 m Butterfly: 1. Dressel (USA), 49.66; 2. Andrei Minakov (RUS), 50.83; 3. Chad le Clos (RSA), 51.16; 4. Kristof Milak (HUN), 51.26; 5. Mehdy Metella (FRA), 51.38; 6. Matthew Temple (AUS), 51.51; 7. James Guy (GBR), 51.62; 8. Marius Kusch (GER), 51.66. (In semifinals: Dressel, 49.50, World Record; old, 49.82, Michael Phelps (USA), 2009).
200 m Butterfly: 1. Milak (HUN), 1:50.73 (World Record; old, 1:51.51, Michael Phelps (USA), 2009); 2. Daiya Seto (JPN), 1:53.86; 3. le Clos (RSA), 1:54.15; 4. Federico Burdisso (ITA), 1:54.39; 5. Denys Kesyl (UKR), 1:54.79; 6. Zach Hartung (USA), 1:55.69; 7. Leonardo de Deus (FRA), 1:55.96; 8. Tamas Kenderesi (HUN), 1:57.10.
Women
100 m Freestyle: 1. Simone Manuel (USA), 52.04 (American Record; old, 52.27, Manuel, 2017); 2. Cate Campbell (AUS), 52.43; 3. Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 52.46; 4. Emma McKeon (AUS), 52.75; 5. Taylor Ruck (CAN), 53.03; 6. Femke Heemskerk (NED), 53.05; 7. Mallory Comerford (USA), 53.22; 8. Freya Anderson (GBR), 53.44.
200 m Freestyle: 1. Federica Pellegrini (ITA), 1:54.22; 2. Ariarne Titmus (AUS), 1:54.66; 3. Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 1:54.78; 4. Siobhan Haughey (HKG), 1:54.98; 5. Junxuan Yang (CHN), 1:55.43 (World Junior Record); 6. Penny Oleksiak (CAN), 1:56.59; 7. Charlotte Bonnet (FRA), 1:56.95; 8. Rio Shirai (JPN), 1:57.14.
400 m Freestyle: 1. Ariarne Titmus (AUS), 3:58.76; 2. Katie Ledecky (USA), 3:59.97; 3. Leah Smith (USA), 4:01.29; 4. Ajna Kesely (HUN), 4:01.31; 5. Jianjiahe Wang (CHN), 4:03.67; 6. Boglarka Kapas (HUN), 4:05.36; 7. Anna Egorova (RUS), 4:06.16; 8. Veronika Andrusenko (RUS), 4:08.60.
800 m Freestyle: 1. Ledecky, 8:13.58; 2. Simona Quadarella (ITA), 8:14.99; 3. Titmus (AUS), 8:15.70; 4. Sarah Kohler (GER), 8:16.43; 5. L. Smith (USA), 8:17.10; 6. J. Wang (CHN), 8:18.57; 7. Kiah Melverton (AUS), 8:25.07; 8. Mireia Belmonte (ESP), 8:25.51.
1,500 m Freestyle: 1. Simona Quadarella (ITA), 15:40.89; 2. Kohler (GER), 15:48.83; 3. J. Wang (CHN), 15:51.00; 4. Ashley Twichell (USA), 15:54.19; 5. Maddy Gough (AUS), 15:59.40; 6. Kesely (HUN), 16:01.35; 7. Melverton (AUS), 16:01.38; 8. Belmonte (ESP), 16:02.10.
4×100 m Freestyle: 1. Australia (Bronte Campbell, Throssell, McKeon, Cate Campbell), 3:30.21; 2. United States (Mallory Comerford, Abbey Weitzeil, Kelsi Dahlia, Simone Manuel), 3:31.02 (American Record; old, 3:31.72, National Team, 2017); 3. Canada (Sanchez, Ruck, Oleksiak, MacNeil), 3:31.78; 4. Netherlands, 3:35.32; 5. China, 3:35.83; 6. Sweden, 3:36.33; 7. Japan, 3:36.79; 8. Germany, 3:39.07.
4×200 m Freestyle: 1. Australia (Ariarne Titmus, Madison Wilson, Brianna Throssell, Emma McKeon), 7:41.50 (World Record; old, 7:42.08, China, 2009); 2. United States (Simone Manuel, Katie Ledecky, Melanie Margalis, Katie McLoughlin), 7:41.87 (American Record; old, 7:42.56, National Team, 2009); 3. Canada (Sanchez, Ruck, Overholt, Oleksiak), 7:44.35; 4. China, 7:46.22; 5. Russia, 7:48.25; 6. Hungary, 7:54.57; 7. Germany, 7:55.63; 8. Japan, 7:56.31.
50 m Backstroke: 1. Olivia Smoliga (USA), 27.33 (American Record; old, 27.43, Smoliga, 2018); 2. Etiene Medeiros (BRA), 27.44; 3. Daria Vaskina (RUS), 27.51; 4. tie, Georgia Davies (GBR) and Kaylee McKeown (AUS), 27.65; 6. Kathleen Baker (USA), 27.69; 7. Caroline Pilhatsch (AUT), 27.78; 8. Kira Toussaint (FRA), 27.85.
100 m Backstroke: 1. Kylie Masse (CAN), 58.60; 2. Minna Atherton (AUS), 58.85; 3. Smoliga (USA), 58.91; 4. Taylor Ruck (CAN), 58.96; 5. McKeown (AUS), 59.10; 6. tie, Baker (USA) and Natsumi Sakai (JPN), 59.56; 8. Vaskina (RUS), 59.74.
200 m Backstroke: 1. Regan Smith (USA), 2:03.69; 2. McKeown (AUS), 2:06.26; 3. Kylie Masse (CAN), 2:06.62; 4. Margherita Panziera (ITA), 2:06.67; 5. Ruck (CAN), 2:07.50; 6. Atherton (AUS), 2:08.26; 7. Katalin Burian (HUN), 2:08.65; 8. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2:10.08. (In semifinals: Smith, 2:03.35, World Record; old, 2:04.06, Missy Franklin (USA), 2012).
100 m Breaststroke: 1. Lilly King (USA), 1:04.93; 2. Yuliya Efimova (RUS), 1:05.49; 3. Martina Carraro (ITA), 1:06.36; 4. Reona Aoki (JPN), 1:06.40; 5. Jingyao Yu (CHN), 1:06.56; 6. Tatjana Schoenmaker (RSA), 1:06.60; 7. Molly Renshaw (GBR), 1:06.96; 8. Arianna Castiglioni (ITA), 1:07.06.
200 m Breaststroke: 1. Efimova (RUS), 2:20.17; 2. Tatjana Schoenmaker (RSA), 2:22.52; 3. Sydney Pickrem (CAN), 2:22.90; 4. Shiwen Ye (CHN), 2:23.15; 5. Molly Renshaw (GBR), 2:23.78; 6. Kelsey Lauren Wog (CAN), 2:25.14; 7. Fanny Lecluyse (BEL), 2:25.23; 8. Kaylene Corbett (RSA), 2:26.62.
50 m Butterfly: 1. Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 25.02; 2. Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED), 25.35; 3. Farida Osman (EGY), 25.47; 4. Kelsi Dahlia (USA), 25.48 (equals American Record, Dahlia [twice], 2017 and 2018); 5. Marie Wattel (FRA), 25.50; 6. Penny Oleksiak (CAN), 25.69; 7. Jeanette Ottesen (DEN), 25.76; 8. Brianna Throssell (AUS), 26.11.
100 m Butterfly: 1. Margaret MacNeil (CAN), 55.83; 2. Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 56.22; 3. Emma McKeon (AUS), 56.61; 4. Elena di Liddo (ITA), 57.07; 5. Brianna Throssell (AUS), 57.09; 6. Kelsi Dahlia (USA), 57.11; 7. Louise Hansson (SWE), 57.16; 8. Marie Wattel (FRA), 57.29.
200 m Butterfly: 1. Boglarka Kapas (HUN), 2:06.78; 2. Hali Flickinger (USA), 2:06.95; 3. Katie Drabot (USA), 2:07.04; 4. Franziska Hentke (GER), 2:07.30; 5. Alys Thomas (GBR), 2:07.48; 6. Liliana Szilagyi (HUN), 2:07.68; 7. Svetlana Chimrova (RUS), 2:08.70; 8. Laura Stephens (GBR), 2:09.35.
200 m Individual Medley: 1. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2:07.53; 2. Shiwen Ye (CHN), 2:08.60; 3. Sydney Pickrem (CAN), 2:08.70; 4. Melanie Margalis (USA), 2:08.91; 5. Rika Omoto (JPN), 2:09.32; 6. Seoyeong Kim (KOR), 2:10.12; 7. Siobhan O’Connor (GBR), 2:10.43; disqualified – Yui Ohashi (JPN).
Mixed
4×100 m Freestyle: 1. United States (Caeleb Dressel, Zach Apple, Mallory Comerford, Simone Manuel), 3:19.40 (World Record; old, 3:19.60, United States, 2017); 2. Australia (Chalmers, Lewis, McKeon, Bronte Campbell), 3:19.97; 3. France (Mignon, Metella, Bonnet, Wattel), 3:22:11; 4. Canada, 3:22.54; 5. Russia, 3:22.72; 6. Netherlands 3:23.48; 7. Japan, 3:24.67; 8. Italy, 3:25.58.
4×100 m Medley: 1. Australia (Larkin, Wilson, McKeon, Cate Campbell), 3:39.08; 2. United States (Ryan Murphy, Lilly King, Caeleb Dressel, Simone Manuel), 3:39.10; 3. Great Britain (Davies, Peaty, Guy, Anderson), 3:40.68; 4. Russia, 3:40.78; 5. Canada, 3:43.06; 6. Italy, 3:43.27; 7. Germany, 3:45.07; disqualified – Netherlands.
