Mollie O’Callaghan is a 2021 Olympian and 2022 world champion who represents Australia internationally in swimming.
Mollie O’Callaghan’s international career began in 2019, when at age 15, she took part in the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, for the Australian national team.
In Budapest, she won a silver medal in the women’s 400m freestyle relay.
2020 Queensland Short Course Championships
At the 2020 Queensland Short Course Championships, O’Callaghan set the new national 16 years age group record in the 100m freestyle with a time of 52.10. She also dominated the backstroke events, winning gold in 50/100/200m events.
2020 Tokyo Olympics
In Tokyo, O’Callaghan brought home two gold medals and a bronze at 17 years old — the youngest member of the squad — swimming in the heats of the 4×100 free relay (gold), 4×100 medley relay (gold), and 4×200 free relay (bronze).
2022 Australian Championships/Trials
The 2022 Australian Swimming Championship served as a qualifier for the 2022 FINA World Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games. The 18-year-old rising star qualified to swim a whopping 5 individual events at the Worlds in as many days at the meet.
The performance that stands out above the rest came in the women’s 100 freestyle.
In the women’s 100m freestyle prelims, O’Callaghan became the first woman sub-53 in the 100m free in 2022, clocking 52.83 for a new best time. She had previously been 53.08, done leading off Australia’s 400 free relay in the prelims at the Olympics last summer. In the final, O’Callaghan was faster, setting a new personal best of 52.49.
O’Callaghan went onto qualify for individual swims in the 100 free, 200 free, 50 back, 100 back and 200 back, although she opted out of the individual backstroke races for Budapest to focus on her freestyle swims and Australia relays.
2022 World Championships
Mollie started her packed schedule in Budapest with the 400 free relay, where she led-off in 52.70 to help Australia dominate the heat and take gold. On day 4 in the 200 free, after making it through the prelims and semis, O’Callaghan put it out there in the final, going out strong and nearly holding on until the end, only getting passed by China’s Yang Junxuan to earn silver medal.
On night 5, O’Callaghan moved through to the final of the 100 free in first seed (52.85, notably even splitting the race) before swimming on Australia’s 800 free relay, where she anchored the Aussies in 1:55.94 to help them win silver behind USA.
On night 6, O’Callaghan swam in the 100 free final, once again using a strong back-half to pass the field on the 2nd 50 and touch first in 52.67. After the race, O’Callaghan revealed she had a leg cramp before the race.
On night 7, O’Callaghan once again pulled relay duties, anchoring Australia’s mixed 400 free relay in 52.03 to not only take gold but break the world record (3:19.38).
On the final night of the meet, O’Callaghan anchored the 400 medley relay in 52.30, touching for 2nd behind the USA.
