Dressel nabs seventh gold to match Phelps
AMERICAN Caeleb Dressel heralded a new era in world swimming when the US star equalled the great Michael Phelps’s feat of seven golds at a single world championships as the 17th edition closed yesterday.
The 20-year-old Dressel underlined his credentials as the world’s fastest starter in breathtaking fashion when he broke away on the butterfly leg to give the US gold in the men’s 4×100m medley relay.
Dressel had already won three individual gold medals and three relay titles in Budapest.
But yesterday’s addition allowed him to match his compatriot Phelps’s tally from the 2007 championships in Melbourne.
Dressel also helped the US to record their best-ever world championship haul – with 38 medals.
Teammate Lilly King had kickstarted the evening in blistering style with a world-record time of 29.40 seconds in the women’s 50m breaststroke.
King beat Russian Yuilya Efimova to the wall by 0.17 seconds, with another American, Katie Meili, taking the bronze medal.
The atmosphere rose when Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu glided to gold in the women’s 400m individual medley, adding to her 200m medley title.
The excited 12 000-strong crowd roared Hosszu on to a championship record time of four minutes 29.33.
Spain’s Mireia Belmonte won silver, with Canadian Sydney Pickrem claiming bronze.
Chase Kalisz’s breaststroke leg in the men’s 400m individual medley also saw him land an individual medley double.
The American set a championship record of four minutes 5.90 seconds to become the thirdfastest performer behind his fellow US countrymen Phelps and Ryan Lochte.
David Verraszto, of Hungary, won silver, with Japan’s Daiya Seto securing bronze.
Swede Sarah Sjostrom won her third individual gold in the women’s 50m freestyle to wrap up a memorable championships, which also included two world records.
The 23-year-old paced herself perfectly to hold of Ranomi Kromowidjojo, of the Netherlands, in 23.69 seconds. Simone Manuel of the US won bronze.
France’s Camille Lacourt delivered the perfect hors d’oeuvre for his new life as a Paris restaurant owner by blazing his way to a hat-trick of men’s 50m backstroke world golds. – Reuters