Swimming World championships: O'Callaghan wins tenth gold medal as ‘devastated' Short withdraws
The reigning Olympic champion in the event qualified second-fastest after comfortably progressing through the semi finals, and on Wednesday night, she showed no signs of the nerves that have often followed her before big races.
The 21-year-old produced a fantastic start off the blocks to lead early, and despite being pushed by America's Claire Weinsten, O'Callaghan's incredible ability to pull away off the turns saw her claim the world title by a body length.
The Australian touched the wall in a time of 1:53.48, beating out China's Bingjie Li, who claimed silver, by over a second. Weinstein claimed bronze while Australia's other qualifier, Jamie Perkins, touched the wall in seventh.
Mollie O'Callaghan celebrates after winning gold in the Women's 200m Freestyle Final. Piicture: Getty Images
O'Callaghan's immediate reaction appeared as though she was frustrated by the time, but she quickly hopped out of the pool to grab an Australian flag and celebrate the win with the Dolphins' coaches.
While the time was over a second outside of Ariarne Titmus' world record in the event, it was still the fastest time swum by a woman this season.
It continues O'Callaghan's incredible record at international meets, leaving the 21-year-old on track to become the most decorated Australian swimmer of all time. Only Ian Thorpe (11) has more world championship gold medals than O'Callaghan, who will be looking to at least equal Thorpe by the end of the week in Singapore.
The medal is Australia's fourth gold of these World Championships in Singapore, following on from Kaylee McKeown's 100m backstroke win on Tuesday night, as well as both the men's and women's 4x100m freestyle relays on Sunday.
'DEVASTATED' SHORT WITHDRAWS
A devastated Sam Short has been forced to withdraw from the men's 800m freestyle final after a night of vomiting triggered by food poisoning from his hotel lunch in Singapore.
The 21-year-old was looking to win his second individual medal of the world championships after claiming silver in the 400m freestyle event on Sunday night. And he was primed for another chance to get on the podium after qualifying for Wednesday night's 800m freestyle final as the second-fastest swimmer.
The 800m is Short's preferred event, with the Australian having swum the third-fastest time in the world this season and also claiming the silver medal at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka with the fastest time ever by an Australian.
However, Short posted to Instagram on Wednesday afternoon, confirming that he would not participate in the race, apologising to his fans back in Australia.
'Just wanted to let everyone know that I will not be doing the 800m final tonight after receiving medical advice,' Short posted.
Samuel Short won silver in the 400m, and was a great medal hope in the 800m final. Picture: Getty Images
'Extremely emotional after this decision, as I was very excited to showcase what I can do and the training I have done! I still believe this is my best race distance and I was ready for a PB.
'After an awesome heat swim which I felt phenomenal, I got very ill very fast, which we believe is food poisoning from my hotel lunch. I have only been consuming meals from the hotel. My afternoon and night has been full of vomiting and all the other nasty stuff that comes with food poisoning! Not pleasant and extremely draining.
'I had full intention of competing if I started to show signs of improvement. However this has not happened. I am going to try my best to recover as well as possible to help my team in the 4x200 relay on Friday. Sorry Australia.'
Many of his Dolphins teammates were quick to offer their support in the comments, including Kyle Chalmers, Lani Pallister and Ariarne Titmus.
It's also not the first instance of food poisoning disrupting these World Championships, with the American team hampered by a bout of gastro that is believed to have stemmed from a training camp in Thailand.
Short will have two days to recover before reassessing his health ahead of the 4x200m freestyle relay heats on Friday.
A Swimming Australia statement confirmed Short would withdraw, but hoped he would recover in time for Friday's 4x200m relay.
'Swimming Australia confirmed today that freestyler Sam Short had stepped down from tonight's 800m final due to gastrointestinal illness,' the statement read.
'At this stage there is no clear link to where the illness was contracted and we are continuing to investigate its source.
'We will also continue to monitor Sam's condition and it is hoped he will recover in time to compete in Friday's 4x200m relay.
'The team's medical staff has been advising the team on further preventative measures and at this stage, no other Australian swimmer has had their World Championships campaign impacted.'
Lachlan McKirdy
NSW AFL Reporter
Lachlan McKirdy is an AFL reporter for The Daily Telegraph and CODE Sports covering the Sydney Swans and GWS Giants in NSW. He also has a strong passion for covering cricket and the Olympic sports, with eexperience working for the International Olympic Committee. He has won awards for his journalism, including from Cricket NSW, while loves bringing a multimedia edge to his work through video and audio means.
@LMcKirdy7
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