Mollie O’Callaghan entered the 12 months burdened by the standing that got here with turning into a person Olympic gold medallist. Later in January, she dislocated her knee. In June, she broke down in tears and laid out her struggles, unravelling in a heartbreaking television interview.
“This 12 months, oh my god,” O’Callaghan stated on the swimming world championships in Singapore on Wednesday night time.
“Actually, coming right here was one of many final issues I believed I might do.”
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How gloriously improper she was.
O’Callaghan suited up on night time 4 of the world championships, well-known gold cap and all, and muscled her strategy to one other gold medal.
She unleashed a thunderous ultimate lap to clinch gold within the girls’s 200-metre freestyle.
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In doing so, she drew stage with Australian swimming legend Grant Hackett on 10 long-course world championship gold medals.
The one Australian who’s gained extra long-course world championship golds is Ian Thorpe, who secured 11.
And with the 100m freestyle and extra relays to return, O’Callaghan may match and cross Thorpe earlier than her work in Singapore is completed.
“At the beginning of the 12 months, should you advised me I might change into world champion once more, I might be shocked,” O’Callaghan stated.
Mollie O’Callaghan after successful gold within the girls’s 200m freestyle. Getty
The 21-year-old was being interviewed by Australian swimming nice Cate Campbell on the 9 broadcast after her triumph within the 200m.
Campbell was additionally the interviewer in that tear-jerking interview in June, at Australia’s trials for the world championships. Campbell consoled her former Dolphins teammate in Adelaide, telling her she ought to “be so extremely proud”.
Standing poolside in Singapore, Australian flag draped round her shoulders, the champion from Logan was gleaming with delight.
“It is fairly unbelievable to have the ability to stand on the rostrum for my nation once more,” O’Callaghan smiled.
From left to proper: Silver medallist Bingjie Li, gold medallist Mollie O’Callaghan and bronze medallist Claire Weinstein. AP
Displaying no indicators of the suspected food poisoning that struck Dolphins teammate Sam Short earlier on Wednesday, O’Callaghan clinched gold with a time of 1 minute, 53.48 seconds (1:53.48).
China’s Bingjie Li grabbed silver in 1:54.52 as American Claire Weinstein took bronze in 1:54.67.
Australia’s Jamie Perkins completed seventh in 1:56.55.
O’Callaghan solely had a lead of 0.22 of a second over second place on the ultimate flip — at that stage, Weinstein was her nearest opponent — however a 28.41-second ultimate lap blew her rivals away.
Of the ten long-course world championship gold medals O’Callaghan has gained, 4 are from particular person races.
Mollie O’Callaghan and her coach, Dean Boxall, share a heat embrace after her triumph. AP
Wednesday night time’s 200m win adopted her triumph within the four-lap occasion on the Fukuoka world titles of 2023.
She additionally won the Olympic 200m freestyle title in Paris final 12 months.
“I’ve devoted my complete life to this, from faculty years, skipping faculty slightly bit,” O’Callaghan laughed.
“Actually, day in, time out, coming to the pool, being on the pool for like 5 hours within the morning, coming again, doing it once more [in the afternoon], and simply giving up these little issues to dedicate it to this second … It is all price it in the long term for me, and it is one thing I get pleasure from, and moments like this make it so a lot better.”
Aussie teenager’s shock bronze … from lane eight
Wednesday night time additionally noticed Australia’s Harrison Turner, a 21-year-old from Brisbane, snare a shock bronze medal within the males’s 200m butterfly — and he did so in lane eight.
The Queenslander additionally broke the Australian report, cranking out a time of 1:54.17 to take down the 1:54.46 posted by Nick D’Arcy in Sydney in 2009.
“Should you advised me I used to be going to win a bronze medal at the beginning of the 12 months with a PB [personal best] of 1:57, I might have been like, ‘Yeah, nah, you are dreaming’. I am misplaced for phrases,” Turner advised Campbell on the 9 broadcast.
“Being in eight lane, I simply snuck in. I believed, ‘I’ve acquired a lane, I’ve acquired an opportunity’.
“I by no means would have imagined to sneak in a bronze there.”
Turner is competing at his first senior long-course meet as a Dolphin.
American Luca Urlando gained gold in 1:51.87 as Poland’s Krzysztof Chmielewski picked up silver in 1:52.64.
