Americans And Oleksiak Break All-Time Medal Records (Day 8 North America Recap)

2022 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

On the last day of the 2022 World Swimming Championships, the American contingent won the most number of medals by any single country at any edition of the meet in history. By bringing in a total of 45 medals the 2022 USA squad became the most decorated team to swim at World Championships.

Altogether the Americans won 17 gold medals, 12 silvers, and 16 bronzes. They medalled in 32 of the 42 events at the meet including all 8 relays. But the American dominance is not the only significant medal-winning feat that occurred in North America this year.

Nearly Every American Entrant Earns A Medal

Nearly every member of Team USA won a medal at this World Championships and every member of the women’s team pulled off a podium finish except for Annie Lazor. Lazor raced the 50 and 100 breaststroke but got disqualified after placing 8th in the 100 breast semi-finals and finished 13th in the 50 breast semis. She did not compete in any relay events. The other 20 women who raced for the USA brought in hardware in either an individual event, a relay event, or both.

On the men’s side, nearly every swimmer got onto the podium as well but 3 men came up short. Charlie Clark, Charlie Swanson, and Luca Urlando were the only men to miss the podium. Swanson finished 11th overall in his sole event, the 200 breaststroke, Charlie Clark wound up in 10th place in the 1500 free, and Luca Urlando was 5th overall in the 200 butterfly.

That means that a total of 37 American swimmers collected a total of 45 medals in 32 different events. That’s a pretty solid record.

Canada Breaks Medal Records As Well

We reported earlier on in the meet that by winning his 3rd medal of the meet, Josh Liendo became the most decorated Canadian man at a single World Championships. On the 8th and final day of that meet, the same record was broken on the women’s side. By 5 different women.

Prior to this meet, the most medals won by a Canadian woman at a single World Champs was 3 medals. Kylie Masse, Penny Oleksiak, Taylor Ruck, Rebecca Smith, Maggie MacNeil, and Sydney Pickrem had all won 3 medals at Gwangju 2019. By the end of 2022, the record went up to 4 as 5 different women collected their 4th medal of 2022 during the final session.

Summer McIntosh did it first when she took gold in the 400 IM, adding to her 400 free, 200 fly, and 4×200 freestyle medals from earlier on in the meet. When Canada took bronze in the women’s 4×100 medley relay, Penny Oleksiak, Maggie MacNeil, and Kayla Sanchez were all awarded their 4th medal of the meet.

Canadian Women Who Won 4 Medals At Budapest 2022

Gold Silver Bronze
Summer McIntosh 400 IM, 200 butterfly 400 freestyle W 4×200 freestyle
Penny Oleksiak W 4×100 freestyle, Mixed 4×100 freestyle W 4×200 freestyle, W4x100 medley
Maggie MacNeil W 4×100 freestyle, Mixed 4×100 freestyle W 4×200 freestyle, W 4×100 medley
Kayla Sanchez W 4×100 freestyle, Mixed 4×100 freestyle W 4×200 freestyle, W 4×100 medley

McIntosh is the only one out of those four women to have earned an individual medal as a part of her 4-medal haul. Kylie Masse took home 2 individual medals and 1 relay medal for a total of 3 while Taylor Ruck also got 3 medals, all on relay.

By collecting 4 medals, Penny Oleksiak brings her own World Championships medal total to 9, which is the most medals won by any Canadian. The former most decorated Canadian all-time at this meet was Ryan Cochrane who won a total of 8 medals in his career. Notably, all of Cochrane’s medals were individual and all of Oleksiaks have been relay medals.

Kylie Masse has now tied Ryan Cochrane for #2 all-time by winning her 8th medal on day 8 of the 2022 World Championships. She now has 5 individual and 3 relay medals across her 2017, 2019, and 2022 outings.

QUICK HITS:

  • In the first event of the night, Justin Ress went through a whirlwind of experiences when he touched first in the 50 backstroke final, headed over to the interview area, was told he was the disqualified, was absent from the medal ceremony, and then found out that the DQ had been overturned later in the session. By the end of all that Ress had been named world champion with his swim of 24.12. Hunter Armstrong was the silver medalist in this event with a 24.14.
  • In the women’s 50 breaststroke the sole finalist from North America was Lilly King who finished 7th overall with a 30.40.
  • Bobby Finke won his second medal of the meet in the 1500 freestyle with a 14:36.70 American record, taking second place to Gregorio Paltrinieri who won the event in a 14:32.80.
  • Erica Brown and Torri Huske represented the USA in the 50 freestyle final. Brown got onto the podium with a 24.38 to tie Australia’s Meg Harris for the bronze medal. Huske was 6th in the heat with a 24.64.
  • Summer McIntosh and Katie Grimes went 1-2 in the 400 IM final for gold and silver while Emma Weyant got on the podium as well for third. McIntosh hit a 4:32.04 for the new world junior record, Grimes was a 4:32.67, and Weyant hit a 4:36.00 for third.
  • The American men placed second in the 4×100 medley relay and the American women took gold in the event. Canada placed third in the 4×100 medley for the women.

NATIONAL RECORDS:

  • Bobby Finke broke the American record in the men’s 1500 freestyle final with a 14:36.70 for the silver medal. He took out Connor Jaeger’s former AR in the event of 14:39.48 from back in 2016. This was Finke’s second medal of the meet, adding to his 800 freestyle gold.

NORTH AMERICAN MEDAL TABLE THROUGH DAY 6:

COUNTRY GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL
USA 17 12 16 45
Canada 3 4 4 11

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Lumangoy
1 year ago
Last edited 1 year ago by Lumangoy
Chachi
1 year ago

Penny is awesome. That is all.

ALEXANDER POP-OFF
1 year ago

Nothing against Alex Walsh, who is great, but why did DeSorbo put her in the heats of the medley relay over Annie Lazor, who is faster and earned the right to a prelims right. That is messed up and I would be pissed. It’s not right.

jeff
Reply to  ALEXANDER POP-OFF
1 year ago

most logical reasoning I can think of is because of Lazor’s DQ in the 100 that made the coaches think she was DQ risk for the relay as well. After all, the prelim relay doesn’t have to go that fast, just fast enough to make it to finals which Alex is capable of doing.

In fact, I was thinking that if that is the reason, then maybe Hinds was put in over Douglass to prevent people from thinking that DeSorbo was just showing favoritism with Walsh. If I’m being honest, Walsh + Douglass seemed like it could’ve been the best choice to me but that would’ve resulted in a lot more criticism for DeSorbo probably

ALEXANDER POP-OFF
Reply to  jeff
1 year ago

I get your point. Sucks for Lazor.

ecoach
1 year ago

How is Summer’s 400 IM a WJr Record when she went 4:29 earlier in the year.

jeff
Reply to  ecoach
1 year ago

That one wasn’t ratified I’m guessing due to lack of security? (for lack of a better word) in the meet. I think the same thing happened with her 2:05.81 200 fly WJR, but she ended up going faster than that twice at this meet anyway

Jess
1 year ago

Maggie didn’t swim the 4×200 i don’t think

Mark
Reply to  Jess
1 year ago

You are right. Maggie didn’t swim that relay, even in heats.

frug
1 year ago

Did the US also set the gold record?

Edit:

Answered my own question; no, the US won 18 in 2017.

Last edited 1 year ago by frug
Mark
Reply to  frug
1 year ago

US won 20 in 2007.

Mark
Reply to  Mark
1 year ago

And 20 in 1978, from far fewer events.

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
1 year ago

Disregarding events not contested at the Summer Olympic Games, the female contingent of Team USA posted the following medal tally:

9 Gold
4 Silver
9 Bronze

Remarkable!