From Fukuoka to Fukuoka. From 2001 to 2023. After ten consecutive World Cups dominated by the United States, Australia closed the World Cup in Japan yesterday as the first medalist in online events, as it did in the same pool more than two decades ago . The Marine Messe complex is already a talisman for Australians.
Of the 20 contested editions of the world championships, since 1973, only on six occasions have the Americans climbed fewer times than their rivals at the top of the podium. Yesterday, on the last day, the American delegation took second place in China thanks to Hunter Armstrong’s gold in the 50m backstroke and those of the women’s and men’s 4x100m freestyle teams. But the country of stars and stripes, which finished the championship with 38 medals, only 7 gold, was far behind Australia, which collected 13 golds, the same amount as in 2001, its ceiling in the World Cups A number that they reached, above all, thanks to them. Six of the gold medals went to Titmus, O’Callaghan and McKeown, the latter three times in the top step of the drawer in individual events, a feat only equaled at the tournament by France’s Léon Marchand and the Chinese Haiyang Qin.
In addition, Australia achieved five of the ten world records that were obtained in Japanese waters, although the last was the work of Ruta Meilutyte in the 50m breaststroke. The Lithuanian was not enough to equal the previous record of the Italian Benedetta Pilato in the semi-finals (29s30), and in the final she won the race by reducing the plus mark by 14 hundredths (29s16), in front of Lilly King and, precisely, Pilate
Meilutyte had also won the 100 m breaststroke. The Baltics said goodbye with two golds, the same harvest achieved on the last day by Tunisian Ahmed Hafnaoui in the 1,500m freestyle, Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh in the 400m freestyle and Swedish veteran Sarah Sjöström, 29, in the 50 m freestyle, which he reached by lowering his own world record in the semi-finals. The Scandinavian, who had already been champion in the 50m butterfly, picked up medal number 22 at the World Championships. Many strokes since the first metal won in the 2009 edition in Rome and the ones he probably still has left to swim at the next world championship in Doha, in 2024.