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Australia Collects More Golds From Night 1 In Gwangju Than All Of Budapest

2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

At the 2017 edition of the World Championships, the nation of Australia walked away with just 1 gold medal as a nation, with the medal coming courtesy of Emily Seebohm’s performance in the women’s 200m backstroke.

Flash forward to 2019 and Seebohm was left off the roster, not having earned qualification in any backstroke event, while Australia has already surpassed its 2017 medal total with 2 golds earned just on night 1.

The women’s 400m free is where the first gold medal was secured, with 18-year-old Ariarne Titmus wowing the world with her 400m freestyle victory over Amerian icon Katie Ledecky. Titmus’ time of 3:58.76 produced a new Australian, Oceanic and Commonwealth Record to have her nation’s World Championships start off on the right foot.

More damage was done to the medal table come the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, where the Aussie combination of Cate Campbell, Bronte Campbell, Emma McKeon, and Brianna Throssell topped the podium in a time of 3:30.21, a new Championships Record.

Splits for the Aussies included 52.85 for C2, 53.34 for Throssell, 52.57 for McKeon and a 51.45 stunner anchor from C1 to wrangle up the top split of the entire field. That obliterates the 3:32.01 the Aussie women put up for silver back in 2017, but C1 did not compete at those Championships.

The Aussie men got on the board as well, taking bronze in the 4x100m free relay in 3:11.22, a vast improvement from not landing on the podium in 2017.

DAY 1 MEDALS TABLE

PLACE NATION GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL RANK BY TOTAL
1 Australia 2 1 1 4 1 (tie)
2 United States 1 2 1 4 1 (tie)
3 China 1 1 2 (tie)
4 Russia 1 1 2 (tie)
5 (tie) Canada 1 1 2 (tie)
5 (tie) Italy 1 1 2 (tie)
Totals 4 4 4 12

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Verram
5 years ago

The men’s relay bronze was a nice surprise considering depth isn’t that good at the moment

Really
5 years ago

It was a low bar…

William Charles Alexander
5 years ago

So stoked for us Aussies! Hope this sets the tone for the next 7 days of competition 👊🇦🇺

Samesame
5 years ago

Just so proud to see this medal table ! Please please please show Mike in Dallas

Aquajosh
5 years ago

Emma McKeon is about to ruin some pick ems.

Samesame
Reply to  Aquajosh
5 years ago

Not mine 😁

Verram
Reply to  Samesame
5 years ago

I just hope Aussies girls can pick up a medal tonight since that’s the only final tonight Australia qualified for from last night

IHB
5 years ago

It is better for Ledecky that Titmus beat her in the Worlds. Imagine Titmus beats her in the Olympics, it will be 1,000 times worse. This has prepared the world for a defeat of Ledecky and lifted the pressure off her. It should put a smile on Ledecky’s face than not. The most difficult part of an athlete’s life is to manage his career and Titmus has just given Ledecky the greatest help in managing her career. She may not know it now but when she is 40 and looks back to her career, she will realize that today is that best day she gets in her career. She cannot thank Titmus enough for helping her to manager her career.

samesame
Reply to  IHB
5 years ago

1000 times worse?

IHB
Reply to  samesame
5 years ago

It’s 1,000 times worse because the Worlds is a much smaller stage. The Olympics is a much bigger stage with the whole world watching. Defeat in the Worlds prepared the world to accept the defeat of Ledecky so that if she is to be defeated again in the Olympics, people will take it easily. That is good for Ledecky’s career because plunging from the top to the bottom is very bad for an athlete, it is much better to come down gradually. Titmus helped Ledecky’s career by helping her to come down gradually. Ledecky will realize today is the best day of her career when she gets older.

IHB
Reply to  IHB
5 years ago

xx

Verram
Reply to  IHB
5 years ago

It makes it better for the sport that Ledecky is challenged .. makes it a much more exciting race to watch when you see these two go head to head and challenging each other

IHB
Reply to  Verram
5 years ago

That is true. How to manager the career of an athlete is also an art athletes should know. After all, the most important thing to an athlete is his career. He has to manage it well.

JimSwim22
5 years ago

I wouldn’t call the 51.4 a stoner. How many times has she split faster?

Retta Race
Reply to  JimSwim22
5 years ago

50.93, 51.00, 51.19, 51.36…today is FIFTH fastest of her career. Beat next closest swimmer’s split by almost half a second….a stunner.

Verram
Reply to  JimSwim22
5 years ago

And what’s the fastest American relay split in comparison?? Just curious what you think

Heyitsme
5 years ago

Oof turn for the better. This is good that team USA has a whole country who is challenging all at once now.

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, …

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