Highlighted by gold medals from Kate Douglass (Pelham, N.Y./New York Athletic Club) and Nic Fink (Morristown, N.J./Metro Atlantic Aquatic Club), the U.S. tallied four total medals on the second night of pool swimming at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar.

A look at the U.S. team medal table after day two in Qatar:

GOLD – Nic Fink (Morristown, N.J./Metro Atlantic Aquatic Club), 58.57
9 – Jake Foster (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mason Manta Rays), 59.48

Fink on winning his first 100m breaststroke world title: “Winning the 100 for the first time, that's really cool, and like, to keep experiencing firsts at this point in my career has been super awesome. It's been a really fun ride, and there are so many fast names here and in the rest of the world, I'm just happy to get my hands on the wall.”

Race Notes:
• Fink’s gold is the first world title for the U.S. since Brendan Hansen in 2007.
• Fink earns his 10th World Championships medal of his career, becoming the ninth American to reach the double-digit mark in competition history.
• Foster’s time in the semifinals was a new personal best. 

Women’s 100m Butterfly – FINAL 
SILVER – Claire Curzan (Cary, N.C./University of Virginia), 56.61

Curzan on competing at this meet: “I’m excited to be back on this stage again, obviously. It was super hard that I couldn't be there (at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships), but I had a blast watching the U.S. do an amazing job. I'm just pumped to be back here again and I'm really happy with how the race went. I think it’s a really good start to this meet and I think it sets me up well.”

On becoming a veteran in the sport: “It's funny, I was actually reflecting on that going into this meet because there's a lot of younger kids that are on the U.S. team. Being now in the position of a veteran I think has helped me see that I definitely have grown so much. I think I've gotten so much more composed in the ready room and just ready for races. I'm excited to see how this newfound, like almost adult-ness, is going to translate to me.”

Race Notes:
• The silver medal marks Curzan’s sixth World Aquatics Championships medal of her career. 
• The U.S. has medaled in the event at the last three World Aquatics Championships.

Men’s 100m Backstroke – SEMIFINAL
1 – Hunter Armstrong (Dover, Ohio/New York Athletic Club), 53.67
8 – Jack Aikins (Atlanta, Ga./Swim Atlanta), 53.87

The final will be contested on Tuesday, February 13.

Men’s 50m Butterfly – FINAL 
SILVER – Michael Andrew (Encinitas, Calif./MA Swim Academy), 23.07
8 – Shaine Casas (McAllen, Texas/Longhorn Aquatics), 23.47

Andrew on his swim: “As an athlete, racing your best is always a fine line between thinking about what you need to do in the race and just doing it. Especially in the 50s, there's so much that happens to such a detailed level, and I think if I just stopped thinking, I could probably swim a little faster. I was a little long into the breakout and just kind of lost a little speed at the front end and then found my rhythm. Part of that is trying too hard. I just have to swim.”

On his schedule at this World Aquatics Championships: “I feel good. I feel really strong. You know, these times are fast. I don't think they're where I'm capable of, I think I should be quite a bit faster. And now we put it behind us and move on.”

Race Notes:
• Andrew medals in the event for the second time in his career; Won bronze in 2022.

Women’s 100m Backstroke – SEMIFINAL
1 – Claire Curzan (Cary, N.C./University of Virginia), 58.73

The final will be contested on Tuesday, February 13.

Race Notes:
• Curzan’s 100m backstroke was her second race of the night. She completed both races in approximately 40 minutes.

Men’s 200m Freestyle – SEMIFINAL
4 – Luke Hobson (Reno, Nev./Longhorn Aquatics), 1:45.53

The final will be contested on Tuesday, February 13.

Women’s 200m Individual Medley – FINAL
GOLD – Kate Douglass (Pelham, N.Y./New York Athletic Club), 2:07.05

Douglass on the strong points of her swimming: “I've always been able to kind of excel at all four strokes, and so I really take advantage of that in my training and I'm able to train for a lot of different disciplines, and that's obviously why I'm pretty good at the 200 IM.”

On expectations for this meet: “I have no idea, but this is definitely a great start to the meet. Hopefully maybe a few more best times, a few more podium finishes would be awesome … This is definitely a great starting point for the year and it's definitely going to give me a lot of confidence going into Trials in the summer, so we'll see what happens.”

Race Notes:
• Douglass shaved .04 off her time to earn a new personal best. 
• Douglass wins the 200m IM world title for the second-consecutive year.

The 2024 World Aquatics Championships continues through February 18, with prelims beginning each day at 1:30 a.m. ET and finals beginning at 11 a.m. ET. All sessions are streamed live on Peacock.

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