North America: US Men’s 200 IM/Women’s 800 FR-R Winning Streak Snapped

2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• All sports: Friday, July 12 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
• Pool swimming: Sunday, July 21 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
• The Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center, Gwangju, Korea
• Meet site
• Competition Schedule
• FinaTV Live Stream
• Entry Lists
• Results

Day 5 of the FINA World Championships showed an increase in the American medal count, with 2 golds, 2 silvers, and 2 bronzes now added to the country’s total.

Among the gold medal winners today, Caeleb Dressel became the second American man to repeat World titles in the 100 free. Likewise, his 46.96 winning time set a new American record and became the fastest textile suit time in history. Surprising in the women’s 50 back and becoming the first American to win the event since 2009 was Olivia Smoliga, who also set a new American record with a 27.33.

Yet the headline of the session were two major US winning streaks that were broken during finals. The first streak was the men’s 200 IM winning streak that the American men have won 8 times in a row. Chase Kalisz put forth great effort, but wasn’t enough to finish ahead of Jeremy Desplanches and Daiya Seto.

Later into the relays, the US women lost their 4×200 free relay winning streak to the Aussies, who earned their country’s first-ever event world title. The US women were undefeated in the event since 2011.

More North American Notables:

• Americans Hali Flickinger and Katie Drabot impressed in the women’s 200 fly and became the first American duo to medal in the event in the same year since 1978. However, the great Mary T. Meagher‘s former world record of 2:05.96 would have still won the 2019 winning time from Boglarka Kapas (2:06.78).
• Behind the Americans and Aussies in the 4×200 free relay, the Canadian quartet of Kayla Sanchez, Taylor Ruck, Emily Overholt, and Penny Oleksiak set a new national record to win the bronze medal.
• No Americans will be in the women’s 200 breast final, but Canadians Sydney Pickrem and Kelsey Wog have qualified into the final.

North American Records Broken:

• Women’s 50 Back: American/North American record, Olivia Smoliga (27.33)
• Men’s 100 Free: American/North American record, Caeleb Dressel (46.96)
• Women’s 4×200 Free Relay: American/North American record, 7:41.87
• Women’s 4×200 Free Relay: Canadian record, 7:44.35

North America — Day 5 Medal Table