The Dolphins may have collected just the silver and bronze on the final day of this year’s World Swimming Championships, but they still finished 2nd on this medal tally alone with six gold, nine silver and two bronze at a total of 17 medals.
Nice seeing Meg Harris share the joint bronze medal with Team USA’s Erika Brown at 24:38 in the Women’s 50m Freestyle Final. She was 3rd fastest overall from start to finish – including a great start in her heat & also she finished 2nd in the 2nd semi.
Then we saw the 4 x 100 Women’s Medley Relay Team wrap up 2nd after a fantastic start earlier yesterday in the heats. Yes, they couldn’t nail down Team USA on time for the gold when building an early lead would’ve gave them an extra edge towards their arch rivals. However, the girls swam really well within the Top 3 nonetheless from Kaylee McKeown, Jenna Strauch, Brianna Throssell & Mollie O’Callaghan.
Overall, it’s great to see our Dolphins finish off 2nd. We have a few of the world’s fastest swimmers that is developed & produced right here with freestyler Mollie O’Callaghan, backstroker Kaylee McKeown, and breaststroker Zac Stubblety-Cook. Although Elijah Winnington’s opening day gold in the Men’s 400m Freestyle Final may not have translated everywhere else, but surely he can bounce back next time.
And we have plenty of bright and talented youngsters coming through the ranks who is tipped for massive potential. They are ready to make history in collecting gold medals like O’Callaghan, McKeown & Stubblety-Cook – before they look to hopefully end Team USA’s long-running dominance up top & take over the world themselves regardless if its the WC and/or Olympic medal tally.
Thanks to Budapest, Hungary, for being such a great host once again for the second time that goes back to five years ago in 2017. For now, bring on the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, next month, as well as renewing our arch-rivalry with Team USA back home in Sydney this August.