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Kaylee McKeown

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Mollie O’Callaghan & Zac Stubblety Cook’s outstanding swims in their respective Finals puts Australia back into 2nd on Day 6 of the 2022 World Swimming Championships

by Sports Benches

We’re back into 2nd now on the medal tally for the Dolphins Swim Team, having snatched another two gold medals today thanks to Mollie O’Callaghan and Zac Stubblety-Cook after Day 6 of the 2022 World Swimming Championships.

Stubblety-Cook may not had the early momentum needed to stay ahead when he was battling outside the Top 3. The gamble to go all in the last 50m paid off however, when he came from behind with less than 100m to go before he trumped the whole field on the way home that secured his first World Championship Gold Medal in the Men’s 200m breaststroke.

Same goes to O’Callaghan over in the Women’s 100m Freestyle who was also initially off the pace. But likewise to what Stubblety-Cook did in the last-half, she began to rebound just in time up front towards a photo finish, and she has done it to upsurge Sweden’s Sarah Sjoestroem and Team USA’s Tori Huske for the gold she really wanted which is absolutely stunning.

Then there’s more than just the two outstanding swimmers on display where they took home another two silver medals.

Excellent job from Zac Incerti with the turnaround once he took over the baton from Elijah Winnington. His excellent spell in the last 100m puts them in 2nd after Stage 2 of the Men’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final; That helped him paved an easy pathway for Sam Short & Mack Horton to bring it all the way home where they finished 2nd.

And how good was Jenna Strauch in the Women’s 200m breaststroke? Although she couldn’t hold off Team USA’s Lily King towards the very end of the wall, but it’s still an excellent swim – especially in the 2nd half where she caught up side-by-side to the frontrunners just in time for the climax of this race.

The hard work isn’t over going into the final two days with Kaylee McKeown in the Women’s 200m backstroke Final, Kiah Melverton in the Women’s 800m Freestyle Final & Matt Temple in the Men’s 100m butterfly Final – plus the Mixed 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay if possible tomorrow. Initially, Lani Pallister was set to compete in the Women’s 800m Freestyle tomorrow with Melverton for the gold but then COVID caught her which means she has to withdraw from the running & sit for at least a week in isolation.

For now, what a day for O’Callaghan & Stubblety-Cook who made our Aussies very proud on the pool.

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Another silver for the Dolphins Swim Team on Day 5 of the 2022 World Swimming Championships with three potential gold medal races to bounce back tomorrow

by Sports Benches

Another day, another silver medal for the Dolphins Swim Team after Day 5 of the 2022 World Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Let’s start with 18-year-old Mollie O’Callaghan who endured a fantastic day once again in the pool. Not only she was too good all along in the lead up to tomorrow night’s Women’s 100m breaststroke final, but she also brought home another silver for the Dolphins with Madi Wilson, Leah Neale & Kiah Melverton in the Women’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay.

Although Neale has the most credit when she briefly led the field at one point going into Stage 3/4 – but Katie Ledecky came in at the same as Melverton where she was proved too good for Team USA that sets up Bella Sims to finish off comfortably in 1st. As Bobby Hurley said on commentary, O’Callaghan will need to build on the early momentum in order to stay ahead. It’s the one weakness she couldn’t nail down China’s Junxuan Yang just before the finish line yesterday in the Women’s 200m Freestyle Final.

Then we look at Jenna Strauch over in the Women’s 200m breaststroke as she never looked out of place – especially when she came 1st in the semis before she ended up being the overall fastest out of the Top 8 for tomorrow night’s final. So does Zac Stubblety-Cook who smashed it in the Men’s 200m breaststroke where he came first as well in both preliminaries that sets up another potential gold to take home.

And shoutout to two other swimmers who couldn’t quite finish at least in the Top 3 but did their best nonetheless; Kaylee McKeown P6 in the Women’s 50m backstroke, as well as 18-year-old Liz Dekkers P5 in the Women’s 200m butterfly on her first International final – with a personal best time of 2:07:81.

Keep an eye on O’Callaghan, Stubblety-Cook and Strauch in the finals tomorrow that would hopefully put the Dolphins back to 2nd with three days left – even though it’s nearly impossible to catch up to their arch-rivals – Team USA.

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2022 World Swimming Championships Day 4: Dolphins Swim Team oh so close again with two silver medals on display

by Sports Benches

Oh so close from 18-year-old Mollie O’Callaghan with the silver in the 200m Women’s Freestyle Final. Yes, she wanted to build up gradually & then go all-in as part of her tactics inside the pool, having been comfortably in between 2nd and 3rd already. However, she just couldn’t catch up China’s Junxuan Yang on time before the end of the wall. It’s still a good swim though as she just her collected another medal here on top of her opening day gold in the Women’s 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay Final. Her team-mate Madison Wilson finished 5th where we would’ve liked to see her finish Top 2 again alongside Mollie from the heats and semis yesterday but great effort to bring it all the way home nonetheless.

Then we move onto the 4 x 100 Mixed Medley Relay Final where the Dolphins may be well off the pace during the first half with Kaylee McKeown (backstroke) and Zac Stubblety-Cook (breaststroke) leading our baton. However, it’s great to see Matt Temple recover well back in the Top 3 via the butterfly before Shayna Jack freestyles her way home that secured them the silver medal. It could’ve been another gold once again if McKeown and Stubblety-Cook were side-by-side with Team USA for the whole time. That way, the finish would’ve gave a better chance of thumping their arch-rivals for the gold, but glad to see them on the podium after a brilliant 2nd-half performance that provided a better pull towards the homestretch.

That’s all for Day 4 of the 2022 World Swimming Championships as the Dolphins added two silver today to their medal tally; two gold, four silver and one bronze that still sees them in 3rd spot right now behind Italy by just one gold medal.

Let’s see if Kaylee McKeown can get back to her best tomorrow night on Day 5 in the Women’s 50m backstroke Final, after she finished 3rd all day long that qualifies overall in 6th fastest. And so does 18-year-old Liz Dekkers from Brisbane in the Women’s 200m Butterfly Final following a bright start in the heats; She may finished 4th in the 1st semis but has done enough to book her place in 6th.

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2022 World Swimming Championships: Kaylee McKeown collects just the silver for Australia in the 200m IM on Day 2; all eyes now on Elijah Winnington towards another gold tomorrow in the Men’s 200m Freestyle

by Sports Benches

The Dolphins may have taken just the one silver after Day 2 of the 2022 World Swimming Championships but they’re still in 2nd in the medal tally right now with two gold and two silver, even though they’re a few medals behind Team USA – who picked up three more gold & four bronze today.

Yes, it was hard to watch when Kaylee McKeown pulled out out the 100m backstroke which is one of her best races that helped her secure both Olympic gold medals last year in Tokyo. She could’ve also taken the risk to try & take home two gold medals – the 100m backstroke & 200m individual medley – all on the one day for Australia that would’ve put them just ahead of Team USA in the number of golds accrued on this medal tally.

However, it’s not something she‘s prepared for at this stage as McKeown wants to test out a variety of different formats on the road to the Paris 2024 Olympics, and then look to win as many gold medals as she can.

Nonetheless, she swam really well in the Women’s 200m individual medley final where it was a more challenging race than just the usual backstroke, as McKeown finished 2nd at 2:08:57 behind Alex Walsh (2:07:13).

We also saw some of our Dolphins in action who just couldn’t keep up the rest of the field either in the heats and/or finals; Zac Stubblety-Cook (P7 in Men’s 100m breastroke Final); Issac Alan Cooper (P6 in the Men’s 100m backstroke Semi-Final 1); Mitch Larkin (P7 in Men’s 100m backstroke Semi-Final 2); Brianna Throssell (P6 in the Women’s 100m Butterfly Final); And Jenna Stauch fell just short of the Top 3 bubble in P4 during semi final 1 of the Women’s 100m breaststroke – despite a brilliant start from the heats earlier in the day at P2.

There’s always the bright side though when it comes to 22-year-old Elijah Winnington after his heroics from Day 1 of the Men’s 400m freestyle final; he’s on the hunt towards another gold for the Men’s 200m Freestyle Final tomorrow on Day 3, having finished 3rd in Semi-Final 1 just a few hours ago.

#FINABudapest2022 #DolphinsSwimTeam #Australia #KayleeMcKeown #ElijahWinnington #SwimmingAustralia #JennaStauch #Swimming #DunaArena #Budapest

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