You are working on Staging1

Mollie O’Callaghan Suffers Leg Cramp Before World Championship-Winning Swim

2022 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Mollie O’Callaghan swam her way to World Championships gold in the 100 freestyle final with a 52.67. She got into the wall ahead of Sarah Sjostrom who swam a 52.80 for silver and Torri Huske who hit a 52.92 for bronze.

In a post-race interview, O’Callaghan revealed that she had a leg cramp, causing her to be nervous during warm-up. O’Callaghan also explained that she was feeling down and nervous the night before this final.

“I was very nervous during the warm-up and was in a little panic as my leg cramped. Last night I felt really down and was extremely nervous. That’s why I’m so happy now because of this result. I got so excited when I realised that I had won this final because I had no expectations before the race. I’m also happy because I could compete with such strong swimmers” said O’Callaghan.

The cramp didn’t seem to hamper O’Callaghan’s swim too much considering that she still managed to pull off the win, swimming within 0.18 seconds of her best time. Her fastest-ever swim is a 52.49 in May 2022 at Australian Trials.

That swim was most notable because of O’Callaghan’s splitting. O’Callaghan opened with a 25.92 and closed in a 26.57, which was the fastest back half in the women’s 100 free in history. O’Callaghan also split in an interesting way, going a 26.42 then a 26.43 to essentially even split the race.

O’Callaghan’s splits in the final were slightly more conventional in the final as she opened with a 25.96 followed by a 26.71. While she didn’t close as fast as she has in the past she was still the best closer in the field and the only one under 27 seconds.

O’Callaghan flipped in 6th place at the 50-meter mark but managed to run down the field and touch in first place.

This is O’Callaghan’s second individual medal of the meet as she took silver in the 200 freestyle with a 1:55.22 to Yang Junxuan of China who swam a 1:54.92.

In This Story

13
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

13 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Happy Slappy
2 years ago

Slow news day.

Troyy
2 years ago

The cramp might have been induced by nerves. She said she was very nervous before the final at trials as well so at least in the moment she’s still able to execute despite the nerves. She’s definitely one of a kind with how she splits her races and it makes them very exciting with her running down competitors in the second 50.

Robbos
2 years ago

I hope this is the start for MOC to realise how good she really is, gold & silver in the 2 premier events at 18 years old, that backend speed is amazing, hopefully as she gets stronger & more experience she gets more speed in the 1st half of both 100 & 200 free.

Sub13
2 years ago

After coming off a disappointing result last night, she overcame all the pressure and expectations to take gold. MOC is awesome

Noah
2 years ago

Isnt her semis the fastest closing now (26.42/26.43)

Gheko
2 years ago

Am surprised she did not suffer the cramp after the race as well, awesome closing speed!

Barbadazz
2 years ago

This meet is stress 🤣

Emily Se-Bom Lee
2 years ago

what even is this meet

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

Read More »