Australia's Mollie O'Callaghan pipped by Dutch swimmer Marrit Steenbergen in women's 100m freestyle final

West Australian

5 days ago

Backstroke star Kaylee McKeown and freestyle sprinter Cameron McEvoy will lead the charge as Australia attempt to claw their way back above the US at the
swimming world championships
in Singapore.
A silver and bronze medal on Friday night dropped Australia (five gold, two silver, six bronze) into second spot on the medal tally behind the US (five gold, 10 silver, five bronze).
Mollie O'Callaghan started as the hot favourite in the women's 100m freestyle final, but her late charge wasn't enough to beat Dutchwoman Marrit Steenbergen, who prevailed by 0.12 of a second.
It means O'Callaghan's bid to surpass
Ian Thorpe's Australian record of 11 world championship gold medals
will have to wait for another day.
'Look, I'm tired,' O'Callaghan said after the race.
'Like, I'm not gonna lie, last night was a big night. None of those girls did what I did last night.
'I'm happy to walk away with a medal.
'Honestly, I would always love to win. But honestly, to get on the podium after such a s***-show of a year, I'm pretty happy.
'It just shows the strength that I have and the block I can do in the future knowing that I've barely done any training for this.'
The only other medal for Australia on Friday night was a bronze to the men's 4x200m freestyle relay team of Flynn Southam, Charlie Hawke, Kai Taylor and Maximillian Giuliani.
The quartet entered their final as big underdogs, but they came within a whisker of nabbing silver.
Great Britain won gold in a time of 6:59.84, with China (7:00.91) just edging Australia (7:00.98).
While day six didn't result in a gold rush for Australia, things could be different on Saturday night.
McKeown is a two-time Olympic champion in both the 100m and 200m backstroke.
The 24-year-old won the 100m world championship backstroke final ahead of arch rival Regan Smith on Wednesday.
And McKeown will have the chance to add the 200m crown to her name on Saturday night when she goes up against the likes of Smith, Xuwei Peng, Anastasiya Shkurdai and Claire Curzan in the final.
McEvoy qualified fastest with a time of 21.30 seconds for the men's 50m freestyle final, and the Olympic champion is hoping to come up trumps on Saturday night.
'I can't complain, it's only 0.05 off what I did to win Paris,' McEvoy said of his Friday night semi-final swim.
'It's good, but the job's not done. I've got one more tomorrow.
'I need to let the finals atmosphere kind of lift me up a bit. Don't think about the end time. Don't go down that rabbit hole. Let the body speak for itself and see where I end up.'
Australians Alexandria Perkins and Lily Price both qualified for the women's 50m butterfly final, while Matt Temple qualified sixth fastest for the men's 100m butterfly final.
During the daytime heats on Saturday, Isaac Cooper will feature in the men's 50m backstroke, Meg Harris and Olivia Wunsch are in the women's 50m freestyle, while Sam Short will be hoping to overcome illness to compete in the men's 1500m freestyle.
O'Callaghan said tiredness from a busy schedule meant she wasn't at her best in Friday night's 100m freestyle final.
Thorpe is sure it's just a matter of time before the 21-year-old surpasses his record mark of 11 world championship gold medals - possibly even in Saturday night's 4x100m mixed freestyle relay final.
'I'm certain and I can't wait to see Mollie surpass that,' Thorpe told the Nine Network.
'What she has the opportunity to do is create her own legacy in swimming, which will continue to inspire people in future generations … leading into the Brisbane Olympics in 2032.'
- With 7NEWS.com.au