Wednesday, December 14, 2022
U.S. Rewrites Record Books in Five-Medal Showing in Melbourne
L-R: Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Kate Douglass, Torri Huske
The second finals session of the 2022 FINA World Championships (25m) featured five American medals (including two American ties for medals), one world record by an American relay team and an American record by another relay team. The competition takes place in Melbourne, Australia and will continue through Sunday.
The session got off to a strong start for the United States, as the quartet of Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Kate Douglass and Torri Huske surged to gold in the mixed 4x50-meter medley relay in a world-record time of 1:35.15.
“I prefer not to think about (aiming for a world record) because it puts a little bit of pressure on but after this morning's swim, we thought we had a pretty good chance of getting that world record,” Douglass said. “We had a team meeting before we came to the pool and we all said ‘we are going to get it!’ It's such a great feeling to want something like that and to be able to go out and get it.”
The swim started off with Murphy posting a 22.37 backstroke leg, which is faster than the American record time, though leadoffs of mixed medley relays are not counted in individual American records. Fink followed with a 24.96 breaststroke split, Douglass posted a 24.09 butterfly split and Huske anchored with a 23.73 freestyle leg.
Murphy built on his momentum later in the session, capturing gold in the men’s 100m backstroke in a meet-record time of 48.50. The time was good for a new personal best and gives Murphy his second 100m backstroke (SCM) world title of his career.
“It felt really good,” Murphy said. “It's been an incredible hour for me. . . It was great to hit that time – a nice time drop and a championship record as well.”
Torri Huske won a share of the 50m butterfly world title when she and Canada’s Maggie Mac Neil touched for first in 24.64. The gold is Huske’s first individual FINA World Championships (25m) medal, while the time was just .09 off the American record.
“I feel like when you have one good swim, it’s easy to keep the momentum going and just have a really positive attitude about the next race,” Huske said of her double gold-medal showing on the day.
Surprisingly enough, Huske was not the only American to tie for a medal position this session, as the women’s 100m backstroke featured a two-way split for bronze between the U.S.’ Claire Curzan and Canada’s Ingrid Wilm, who both stopped the clock in 55.74. The bronze extends the U.S.’ streak of medaling in the event at three-consecutive FINA World Championships (25m) competitions.
The final medal of the night for the U.S. came via a bronze—in an American-record time of 7:34.70—in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay. The race saw a leadoff split of 1:53.90 from Alex Walsh, followed by a 1:53.48 split from Hali Flickinger, a 1:52.23 from Erin Gemmell and a 1:55.09 anchor from team captain Leah Smith.
The only other final of the session was the fastest heat of the women’s 800m freestyle, where Smith (8:14.24) and Jillian Cox (8:20.95) finished in fourth and sixth, respectively. Cox was the youngest swimmer in the fastest heat of the event.
In semifinals action, the 100m freestyle semis saw Torri Huske (sixth, 52.11) and Natalie Hinds (seventh, 52.16) advanced to tomorrow’s final, while the 100m breaststroke semis saw Lilly King (first, 1:03.33) and Nic Fink (second, 56.25) advanced to Thursday’s final.
Action continues through Sunday at the Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre. Daily prelims start at 7 p.m. ET while finals take place beginning at 3:30 a.m. ET. All sessions can be streamed in the U.S. on FINA’s YouTube channel. Click here for results, schedule, athletes and more on the event.