Article by Jacquelin Magnay courtesy of the Daily Telegraph.
THE big-name slayer in the pool Mollie O’Callaghan collected yet another Olympic star’s scalp in her final individual swim at the Commonwealth Games.
This time O’Callaghan muscled in on Australia’s double Olympic champion backstroke guru Kaylee McKeown, who had been in form, having won the Games 100m-200m double here.
O’Callaghan, the 18-year-old Queenslander, stormed home in the 50m backstroke final, finishing just 11 hundredths of a second behind Commonwealth record-holder Kylie Masse, of Canada, but out-touching the more fancied McKeown by 11 hundredths of a second.
This silver medal in the one-lap dash was a bonus for O’Callaghan, who had her pick of events, having qualified at the national titles across the board in all three backstroke events, but choosing only to race the 50m distance.
Instead her focus was on the freestyle, where she shocked the more credentialed Emma McKeon and her training partner Shayna Jack to win the 100m freestyle on Wednesday.
In the 50m backstroke, O’Callaghan burst off the start wall and was ahead halfway down the pool, but she was slowly gathered in by Masse, 26, the current world champion. But it was so close. Masse had to break her own Commonwealth record, clocking 27.31sec to beat the two Australians.
Bronte Job, 19, finished sixth in 27.85sec. Such is her precocious talent, O’Callaghan will have a quandary as to which events to focus on for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
But for Australian team relay success, O’Callaghan’s versatility will give selectors options to experiment.
She also managed to scare Ariarne Titmus in the 200m.
