Cameron McEvoy narrowly defends his world title in the 50m freestyle | Swimming

Cameron McEvoy was one of the shocks of the championships in Doha, defending his world title in the 50m freestyle, winning gold by just a hundredth of a second, only to lose in the most painful of near misses.

But while the veteran speedster put on a brave face after suffering a sensational loss to Ukraine’s Vladislav Bukhov on Saturday, future Australian star Jaclyn Barclay was disappointed in her own breakthrough in the 200m backstroke. was enjoying a silver medal.

To conclude the penultimate day of competition, Shayna Jack and Brianna Throssell teamed with Kai Taylor and Jack Cartwright to take silver in the mixed 4×100 meter freestyle relay behind victorious China. , earning him his fifth medal of the week.

As a result, the Dolphins went into the final day bracing themselves for a series of near-misses, winning nine silver and four bronze medals, with Sam Williamson winning the only gold medal in the 50m breaststroke.

With fans cheering on him at the Aspire Dome, McEvoy, the star of this weakened Dolphins team and a rejuvenated veteran, will face off against Socceroos legend Tim Cahill in the much-anticipated splash-and-dash final. There was hope of successfully defending the title he had claimed. Last year in Fukuoka.

However, after powering off the fastest, the 29-year-old was caught up by 21-year-old Bukhov. Bukhov was in last place early on, but reached touch in 21.44 seconds, just ahead of the Australian (21.45) and Britain’s Benn. I’m proud (21.53).

McEvoy is hoping to improve his own record as Australia’s oldest competitive world champion swimmer and swam much faster in both his heat (21.13 seconds) and semi-final (21.23 seconds) on Friday.

But McEvoy, who himself won a shock bronze medal in the 50m butterfly earlier this week, hid his frustration well.

“Obviously I wanted the gold medal and I always want to set a good time, so I’m a little disappointed in that respect,” McEvoy admitted.

“But my main goal for this meet was to come here and see how fast I could run.

“This is all part of the process, to accumulate data ahead of Paris… But to myself from 2016 to 2022, I would be standing here now, 0.01 seconds away. If you told me I could win a second world title with you, I would say, ‘Be super proud.

“The final was faster than Fukuoka… so as an experience, this was very important for the preparation for Paris.”

Another gem from Australia’s backstroke production line, 17-year-old Barkley was nothing short of delighted as he won his first senior individual world medal.

The Queensland world junior 100m back champion shaved nearly two seconds off her personal best, clocking 2.07.03 seconds to easily claim silver.

But beyond that, 19-year-old American Claire Curzan set her own time of 2:05.77, completing the same rare treble that Australian Kayleigh McCune achieved in Fukuoka.

The mixed freestyle quartet was buoyed by Jack’s electric third leg, clocking a time of 3:21.78, pushing China’s time of 3:21.18 from bronze to silver.

This was Jack’s 16th World Championships medal, one less than Throssell (who increased his medals to 17), but after qualifying 4th to qualify for the final, he reached the podium in the 50m freestyle and was joined by his teammates. There is a possibility that there will be a line.

This splash and dash gold medal should go to Sarah Sjostrom. Sarah Sjöstrom became the second swimmer to win the 800m freestyle after Katie Ledecky, a 30-year-old Swede who won the event six times in a row. She completed the 50m butterfly crown in 24.63 seconds.

However, Isaac Cooper, who finished fifth in the 50m freestyle final, was the fastest in the Oceania record time of 24.12 seconds and qualified for the 50m backstroke showdown, raising hopes for a golden shine on Australia’s final day. ing. This is 0.31 seconds faster than the next best player. 7th fastest time ever in qualifying.