We miss racing, so let's reminisce!

Over the next couple weeks, we're taking you back to last summer to celebrate the success of the 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 U.S. Team at the at 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.

Today, we look back to July 27, 2019, when Team USA nearly completed a gold-medal sweep in the night's finals:

Fueled by the success of day six, Team USA continued its momentum to win a gold medal in every event but one, adding five gold medals to its overall tally in Gwangju.

Caeleb Dressel was the star of the night leading the way with three gold medals. Dressel is the only swimmer to win three world championship gold medals in a single-day and has now done so twice after also completing the feat in 2017.

Dressel kicked off the night with a gold in the men’s 50m free (21.04) and followed with another gold in the 100m fly (49.66) just 35 minutes later.

His 50m free time of 21.04 was good for an American record, his fourth American record of the week

“It was not easy in ’17 and it was not easy this year,” Dressel said of the quick double. “I don’t want it to be easy, I really don’t. I think I commented yesterday, it’s just about getting better every day. From ’17, just going along the way, learning event from event, practice to practice, it doesn’t just come together by accident. I knew what was ahead of me from the moment I finished Pan Pacs last year and knew what I was qualified for. So, I knew what was ahead of me and it took a lot of focus, not just today but leading up to the meet. It wasn’t easy then and it wasn’t easy now.”

Coming off a world record in the semifinals, it was the 17-year-old emerging star Regan Smith who took home the women’s 200m back world championship title. Nearly breaking her own world record, but finished just 0.3 shy in 2:03.69.

“The world record was crazy, and I still really don’t believe it to be honest with you,” Smith said. “It just gave me a ton of confidence going into tonight. My biggest goal for this meet was just to come away with a medal for Team USA and help them out in the medal count a little bit. I’m just so happy I was able to get a gold and support Team USA and it just feels really awesome.”

This was Smith’s first world championship medal in her career.

After her shocking pull-out from the 1500m free due to illness a few days before, Katie Ledecky came back to take home the 800m free gold. It was a tight race but Ledecky’s surge in the last 50m led her to victory over Italy’s Simona Quanderella in 8:13.58.

“I’ve been very up and down the past couple of days,” Ledecky said. “Yesterday the 800 prelims was pretty tough, it just didn’t come as easily as it normally would. The time was pretty good for a prelim swim for me, but it just didn’t come easy. It wasn’t as bad as the mile prelims. I still had some lingering effects there. I just knew that I had to kind of buy myself some more time by making the finals and knowing that I had 36 hours to rest, the goal was just to get as much sleep as I could so I could put myself in a position to fight for a medal.”

Ledecky’s gold makes for her fourth consecutive title in the 800m free, but this one meant a little more after a tough week battling to stay healthy.

“There was a lot of emotion there. I think a lot of that came from a sense of gratefulness from my family, my coaches, my teammates, my friends that helped me through this week with all of their support and helping manage all of this. [They were] supporting me all the way and reminding me of that toughness inside of me. Being able to pull that out for them meant a lot.”

“The night concluded with Team USA setting a new world record in the 4x100m mixed freestyle relay, as Dressel, Zach Apple, Mallory Comerford, and Simone Manuel edged out Australia for gold. They finished in a time of 3:19.40.

“I think we’re definitely happy with the win,” Manuel said. “I think our relays haven’t been as well as we would have liked them to, so to get gold medal tonight and finish the night off really well is something that we’re really proud of.”

The relay gold gave Dressel his third of the day for the second time in history.

“I certainly want to do my part [in medaling for Team USA], I’m glad I did tonight, really it was just two individuals and then I had a lot of help on that relay,” Dressel said. “47.3 [split] would not have won the individual title, it would have gotten third, so I could have been a little better on that relay but I had some very good help with Zach, Simone and Mallory. Of course, we’re happy with it. Any time we get a relay up there, any time we get an individual, it’s a special moment.”

Heading into the final day of competition, the team sat atop the medal table with 22 (11 gold, six silver, five bronze) medals.