Budapest: Caeleb Dressel, one of the veterans expected to win the FINA World Championships, has stopped the tournament as two teenagers, 17-year-old David Popovich and 15-year-old Summer Macintosh, jump to the top of the podium. rice field. Seven-time Olympic gold medalist Dressel “withdrew for medical reasons, for his long-term health,” said Lindsay Mintenko, managing director of swimming for the U.S. team, in the evening. I told the media at the beginning of the session. “He is not suitable for competition so far.”
After that, Popovich declared victory in one of the dressel events, the Men’s 100m Freestyle, and McIntosh won the Women’s 200m Butterfly. In other individual finals, 20-year-old Frenchman Leon Marchand completed the men’s medley double at 200m and Kyliemouth won his second Canadian gold medal in the 50m women’s backstroke. In the evening, Katie Ledecky, another veteran star of the US team, was on the record book with the winning female 200-meter relay team.
This was Ledecky’s 21st World Championship medal, more than any other woman. Australia won the silver medal, and Canada won the bronze medal, with Macintosh winning the second medal of the day. Dressel had already won two gold medals in Budapest before the final race on Tuesday morning. It was a 100m freestyle heat and the Olympic champion passed the second fastest qualifying after Popovich. The teenager was asked if he scared Dressel after the final.
“I don’t think so. I don’t think he’s too big to escape from someone like me or, frankly, someone, but I hope he’s okay, but he’s back stronger. Hope to come. ”Popovic, who won the world title when he was the first Romanian to free the 200m, was the first to achieve a 100-200 freestyle double in the world championships since Jim Montgomery in the United States in 1973. Became a man.
The Dutchman Pieter van den Hogenband repeated a rare feat at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. “I’m happy to be able to write a small page in the history of swimming,” said smiling Popovich. “Some say it’s a huge page, but we want to keep it modest.” “I’m happy to have two golds now. I think it’s pretty heavy to carry them. Popovich beat Frenchman Maxime Grousset by 0.6 seconds and Canadian Joshua Reend by 0.13 seconds.
“Smart race”
“I was surprised at how much I won in 200 years. I was surprised that I didn’t win this time,” he added, adding that he liked the 200m event. “I think it’s a smart race over 200 meters,” he said. At 100 on two laps, he said: An instinctive race of animals. Popovich attends a bilingual school in Romania and speaks fluent English in preparation for his career as a sports star. “I haven’t graduated from high school yet. I haven’t even driven yet,” he pointed out.
At the age of 15, Macintosh becomes even younger. The Canadian broke the world junior record by adding a 200m butterfly to the 400m freestyle silver on the first day. Macintosh defeated US Hali Flickinger in 0.88 seconds, while China’s Zhang Yufei was third. “I literally gave everything, did everything I could, poured all my energy and all my focus, stretched towards the wall, and put my hand on the wall as fast as I could,” McIntosh said.
Having won the 400m title on Saturday, Merchand took the lead in the breaststroke and finished in 1’55.22 seconds on the final lap, dodging American Carson Foster and Japanese bronze medalist Daiya Seto. The second Canadian gold medalist, Masse, is a 26-year-old relatively old timer who won a gold medal in a 100m backstroke in the previous two world championships and a silver medal in Budapest. She has never won a big medal in the shortest distance. – AFP
