Mollie O’Callaghan has lit up the world championships again – capturing Australia’s 10th gold medal and her fourth in Japan, with another mind-blowing performance.
If she keeps this up – and there’s no reason to suggest she won’t – the 19-year-old will head to next Paris Olympics as one the headline attractions.
But right now, any thoughts about France are a million miles away because she’s having a ball in Fukuoka, riding the crest of a wave that never looks like breaking.
On Friday, the Aussie teenager won the 100m freestyle final with one of her trademark last lap blitzes.
Seventh at the halfway turn, the 19-year-old turned on the afterburners on the last length, surging past her rivals to get her hands on the wall first in a time of 52.16 seconds, just a heartbeat off her career best 52.08 she set in the relays last Sunday.
Following on from her stunning victory in Wednesday’s 200m freestyle final – where she broke the oldest world record in women’s swimming – O’Callaghan became the first woman to complete the 100m-200m freestyle double at the world championships, which started half a century ago.
“It’s so weird, I am not going to lie, it’s such a weird feeling,” O’Callghan said. “I didn’t even know that no woman has done that and to be the first, it’s just incredible.
There’s no words to explain it.
“I am just so thrilled. I am just trying to keep my emotions in tact and keep it controlled at the moment and taking it day by day and I haven’t really thought too much about everything.”
She also joined James Magnussen as the only Aussies to win back-to-back 100m freestyle titles after her maiden success in Budapest last year.
O’Callaghan was a bundle of nerves 12 months ago but has been far more relaxed and composed this time after adopting a simple but effective way to block out the expectations and hype that come with being the best in the world.
“I came into this week just wanting to have fun and learn as much as I can so to achieve so much is an incredible feeling,” said O’Callaghan, who was presented with her gold medal from 2012 London Olympic champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands.
“I think having fun is the most important point because I went into previous meets just so nervous and worrying so this is the first time I’ve felt so calm and just enjoyed it.”
Australia’s reigning Olympic champion Emma McKeon finished fifth after being third at the turn. McKeon still needs one more medal to break Grant Hackett’s Australian lifetime total of 19 but has three more shots at it over the weekend with the 50m individual freestyle and two relays still to come.
ZAC’S SILVER SLIP After a week when everything had gone to plan for Australia, something had to give and it finally did on Friday night.
Zac Stubblety-Cook, Australia’s premier breaststroker, experienced his first defeat in over two years and lost his prized 200m breaststroke world record in the process.
Stubblety-Cook swam well enough to win silver in a time that was less than half a second outside his old world record.
For a brief moment, he almost looked like he might snatch the gold as he stormed from seventh to second place, but he just couldn’t catch China’s Qin Haiyang, who also won the 100m breaststroke gold and used his front end speed to open up an unassailable lead.
Still the reigning and Commonwealth champion, Stubblety-Cook will go to next year’s Paris Games as one of the favourites.
Australia also won a bronze medal in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay on Friday.
Kai Taylor, the son of Hayley Lewis, joined forces with Kyle Chalmers, Alex Graham and Tommy Neill to finish third and secure an automatic place for the Aussie relay at Paris next year.
With two days to go, Australia sits at the top of the medals table with 10 gold, five silver and one bronze.
China is second with five golds, giving the Aussies a huge chance to finish the championships as the leading country with several strong gold medal contenders on Saturday night.
