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The excitement is building at the 2021 FINA World Championships (25m) in Abu Dhabi as day two started off with a bang in the women’s 4x50-meter medley relay. 

The U.S. owned the world record but it was Sweden who tried to take it down tonight. The U.S. was seated first after a fast prelims, and swapped out three swimmers for finals. Rhyan White had a solid backstroke leg (26.3), Lydia Jacoby followed with breaststroke (29.6), Claire Curzan was on butterfly (24.5) and Abbey Weitzeil proved her anchoring prowess with a quick 23.1 split to grab silver for the U.S. (1:41.03) behind Sweden, who tied the world record (1:42.38) set by U.S. in 2018.

“I’m still super excited [to get silver], it is great just being able to be in the ready room with all these great Americans,” said Curzan. “Having them as idols and now relay partners is just great. The energy in finals is just amazing, I think we’re all happy with how we finished and we’re glad to get a medal for Team USA.”
 
Jacoby agreed, saying, “It was just great to be back racing for Team USA on a relay. It was super fun and we are all super proud to be put on these relays, so it means a lot.”

The silver medal was also awarded to Emily Escobedo and Kate Douglass for their preliminary swims in the event.

The first gold for the U.S. tonight was awarded to Shaine Casas for his incredible 100m backstroke race. The Texas star, who just missed the Olympic Team by finishing third at June's U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Swimming, secured his first world championship gold in a 49.23 (23.2/25.9).

“The race started and you could hear the buzz," Casas said after his race. "From there, I just kind of blanked out and was spinning my arms as fast as I could. By the time I realized what was going on, it was in the third [length] -- the last push-off, you go do your couple of dolphin kicks and then my legs stopped working and I kind of started seizing a little bit. I was just praying that the wall would get there before these guys started running me down. I touched the wall first, so that was awesome for me.” 
 
It was a tight race, as only seven tenths separating first from eighth, and Casas was up against a talented field with other Olympians.

“It’s definitely a huge jump coming from the invite or the college scene,” he said. “These guys are definitely on another level, but it just takes practice and some confidence and you can figure it out pretty quickly.
 
“I had a whole summer to reflect on what had gone down this previous summer. I had some time off to kind of learn from my mistakes and grow as a person. I took that time and I was ready to go, so I just went all out,” said Casas. 

A big surprise came in the women’s 200m butterfly, when U.S.’s Charlotte Hook, hidden in lane 1, rallied back in the second half to earn silver. Hook found herself in eighth at the 50-meter mark, but closed the field by the 150, charging home the last 25 to nab second in a 2:04.35.

Olympian Nic Fink, who owns the American record in the men’s 100 breaststroke, snuck in to grab a bronze medal in his signature event, finishing in 55.87. The bronze gave Fink his first medal at a FINA World Championships event after attempts at the 2016 short-course meter competition and 2013, 2015 and 2017 long-course meter competitions.

The U.S. featured two swimmers, seated right next to each other in the women’s 100 backstroke. Veterans Katharine Berkoff and Rhyan White battled it out, with Berkoff grabbing the bronze medal in a 55.40. White finished fifth with a 55.87.

“I was just really nervous," Berkoff said. "I was trying to take it out a little faster than last night because I knew my second 50 [meters] would be pretty good. It worked out pretty well.”

The session wrapped with the mixed 4x50m freestyle relay, where the quartet of Ryan Held (20.8), Zach Apple (21.31), Kate Douglass (23.7) and Abbey Weitzeil (23.1) took fourth in 1:29.04

The competition continues with prelims at 12:30 a.m. ET, while finals will resume tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. ET. For more information on the event, visit https://www.fina.org/competitions/2/15th-fina-world-swimming-championships-25m-2021.