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

2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

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:

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

Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 USA 5 5 4 14
7 Canada 2 3 5

In This Story

1
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

1 Comment
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
N P
4 years ago

Mary T. Meagher is an absolute legend. A time swum 38 years ago by a 16-year-old woman wearing a practice suit and no goggles would’ve won the World Championships. For reference, here are the places that the world record from 1981 would get in every event swum so far at 2019 Worlds:

W 100 Free – 25th
M 100 Free – 29th
W 200 Free – 13th (the great Sippy Woodhead’s record)
M 200 Free – 33rd
W 400 Free – 8th (Tracey Wickham)
M 400 Free – 16th
M 800 Free – 20th (Vladimir Salnikov)
W 1500 Free – 9th
W 100 Back – 18th
M 100 Back – 36th… Read more »

About Nick Pecoraro

Nick Pecoraro

Nick has had the passion for swimming since his first dive in the water in middle school, immediately falling for breaststroke. Nick had expanded to IM events in his late teens, helping foster a short, but memorable NCAA Div III swim experience at Calvin University. While working on his B.A. …

Read More »