Now the Aussies may not have thumped Team USA for the No.1 medal tally honours in this 16th Short Course World Championships here in Melbourne, but they’ve finished extremely well with 13 gold, 8 silver & 5 bronze in a total of 26.
We’ll start with Kaylee McKeown where she held her line really well from start to finish in the Women’s 200m backstroke Final. Then she immediately helped out by opening the 4 x 100m Medley Relay in backstroke; Although they may not have nailed down USA on time, but great effort by her team-mates – particularly to Meg Harris (Freestyle)!who wrapped up her shift in style with the team silver (2nd).
And how good was Kyle Chalmers when he anchored the 4 x 100 Men’s Medley Relay Final? He too made up some lost time as soon as Kyle dived into the pool before he was on par the front-runners going into the last 25m sprint; And not only he delivered them half of gold but also half of the new world record time alongside USA – in which was unreal to see him smash it towards the end of the wall in front of his mighty home crowd.
Wow! Just wow! As we finish off this program, well done to our Aussie Dolphins Swim Team who swam so many golden moments that will forever be reflected over the last six days. Love seeing Lani Pallister rack up three individual freestyle long-distance gold (400, 800 & 1500m), as well as the one team relay in the 4 x 200 Women’s Free, with encouragement from the legendary Dawn Fraser.
Plus, we’ve got Mollie O’Callaghan who is not only usually good at freestyle both by herself & as a team member but can do backstroke too. And we have two queens plus one king taking most of the golden prize in McKeown, McKeon & Chalmers. That’s a wrap for now as we can’t wait for the 20th long-course Worlds edition in Fukuoka, Japan, in mid-July next year – the place where Australia topped the medal charts back in 2001, and hopefully they go one better again over there this time against their arch-rival – Team USA.
