Wow!! Day 5 of 8 in the 2023 World Swimming Championships over in Fukuoka, Japan, has been another memorable night for our Aussie Dolphin swimmers once again!! Not only we collected a whopping three gold medals last night, but we’re also further in front on this medal tally at nine now with three days left to go ahead of China, whose gold medal numbers is currently on four.
So still plenty of more gold medals up for grabs to help them stay ahead of Day 6 tonight before we enter the final two day weekend.
First of all, congrats to “The King” Kyle Chalmers on what has been an unreal finish to his 100m Freestyle finals meet from 2nd at the start to 1st in the end – well done! Then Kaylee McKeown was also unreal who once again dominated her best swimming discipline in backstroke by holding off top spot through the end of the wall when it comes to the 50m Final dash.
And how about another mighty team effort over in the Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final? As always, gotta love Mollie O’Callaghan’s fast start before Shayna Jack helped stay ahead during team shift No.2. Now there were some doubts at one stage when Brianna Throssell may have slipped away from top spot to 2nd by Team USA’s Bella Sims ahead of the 4th & final team shift baton of this race.
Fortunately, Ariarne Titmus was there to relieve those doubts, who not only helped finish it off with just the team gold, but also smashed the new record time as well of 7:37:50 ahead of Team USA in 2nd & China in 3rd. Love seeing Arnie bounce back as this is what’s best for Swimming Australia & Australian sport after she finished 2nd on Day 4 yesterday to Mollie O in the Women’s 200m freestyle Final.
If that night wasn’t memorable enough, how about we give a shout out to Liz Dekkers who finished 2nd in the 200m Butterfly Final? She might not had a great start & first half as Liz would’ve won gold if she can improve on it that would mean anything next time, but what a finish though when she turned herself around from 7th to 4th & then came home in 2nd!!
Let’s roll the night session finals meet later tonight with 3-4 gold medal opportunities up for grabs in the hope of staying further in front on this swimming medal tally:
• Mollie O’Callaghan & Emma McKeon in the 100m Freestyle
• Abbey Harkin in the Women’s 200m breaststroke
• Zac Stubblety-Cook in the Men’s 200m breaststroke
• Team Relay in the Men’s 4 x 200m Freestyle
