Australia has put on a dominate display in the pool at the 16th FINA World Swimming Championships, finishing with a team-record 13 gold medals, as well as seven silver and five bronze medals.
Over the course of competition, Australia also claimed four new World Records, 10 new Oceania Records and three new Championship Records, showcasing a variety of dominant and entertaining performances in the pool.
The Australian Team, which included 24 Commonwealth Games Australia team members, put on a dazzling performance across six days at the 2022 World Short Course Championships.
Three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Kaylee McKeown made history, adding the women’s 200m backstroke short course world title to her Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games and long course titles, become the first woman and only second swimmer ever to hold all titles at once.
Emma McKeon claimed four gold and three silver medals, while Kyle Chalmers, with three gold, three silver and one bronze medal, joined McKeon in becoming the first Australians to finish the short course world championships with seven medals in total.
Meanwhile Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Lani Pallister became the first female swimmer to win three short course freestyle events at a world championship, with individual gold medals in the women’s 400m, 800m and 1500m.
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In a commanding display of team dynamics, Australia secured a medal in 11 of the 12 relay events, three of which featured world-record breaking performances in the women’s 4x50m medley relay, women’s 4x100m and women’s 4x200m freestyle relays.
However, it was the final event of the competition that proved the most extraordinary, with both Australia and the USA claiming the gold medal and a world record in a dead heat in the men’s 4x100m medley relay.
Isaac Cooper, Josh Yong, Matt Temple and Kyle Chalmers, were trailing in third place before Chalmers, who anchored the team in the final leg, stormed home to help Australia stand equally atop the podium with the USA quartet.
Swimming Australia President Michelle Gallen noted the lasting impact of Australia’s event hosting.
“I would like to thank the organising committee, led by Brenton Rickard, for all their hard work in delivering this event. I would also like to thank Swimming Australia CEO, Eugénie Buckley, and her whole team for the incredible effort to bring a World Swimming Championship back to Australia and provide this opportunity for our swimmers to perform so well on home soil.”
Leading the local organising duties was Melbourne native Brenton Rickard, three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, world champion and Olympic medallist in swimming, noting the upcoming decade of incredible events on the sporting calendar.
“We have laid a great framework for the international events that Australia will host over the next decade, including the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games.”
Congratulations to all competitors – please see here for all results.
