Emma McKeon has locked in the world short course championships sprint double, adding the 50 metres freestyle to her 100m crown in Melbourne on Saturday night.
Key points:
- McKeon won the 50m freestyle final in a championship record
- She helped Australia set a world record in winning the 4x50m medley relay final
- Kyle Chalmers was seventh in the men’s 50m freestyle
The 28-year-old got off to a flying start and led at the 25m turn before burning up the second lap for a clear win ahead of Poland’s Katarzyna Wasick and Great Britain’s Anna Hopkin.
McKeon’s time of 23.04 seconds topped her previous personal best by 0.46 and set a championship record, while also bringing Australia’s gold medal tally to 11.
Despite her dominance, McKeon said she did not consider herself a 50m swimmer.
“I still don’t actually call myself a 50m freestyle specialist — I prefer the 100,” she said.
“But I just knew that I had to kill that start and probably one of my strengths is my start so I knew if I got that I could be in contention.”
McKeon, owner of 11 Olympic medals, had never won an individual world championship title at either short or long course before the Melbourne meet.
The victory came after she also helped the Australian women smash another relay world record, taking gold in the 4x50m medley earlier in the evening.
Madi Wilson anchored the team, swimming the freestyle leg with McKeon taking butterfly, as Australia touched the wall in 1:42.35, just 0.06 ahead of the United States with Sweden (1:42.43) third.
The time broke the world record set by the Americans in 2018 by 0.03.
Kyle Chalmers was unable to crack the podium in the men’s 50m freestyle final, finishing seventh in a time of 20.92.
The race was won by Jordan Crooks (20.46) from the Cayman Islands, securing his country’s first medal of any colour at a world titles.
Earlier, Chalmers was part of the Australian men’s 4x50m medley relay team who had to settle for bronze as victorious Italy also set a world record.
The men’s 800m freestyle field were chasing Australian great Grant Hackett’s short course record of 7:23.42 set way back in 2008.
Italian veteran Gregorio Paltrinieri was a clear winner but did not get close to Hackett’s long-standing mark, stopping the clock in 7:29.99.
AAP
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