Budapest (AFP) – On Redemption Night for American swimmers, Lily King, Ryan Murphy and the men’s 4×200 freestyle relay team took home three more gold medals for the United States at the World Swimming Championships on Thursday.
King justified himself after missing the podium in the 100m breaststroke by winning the 200m final in the same stroke for the first time.
“Whenever I swim badly, I feel like I have a lot of naysayers out there. Just being able to prove them wrong excites me,” King said.
The 25-year-old finished his power off with a time of 2:22.41, defeating Australian Gina Strauch by 63 hundredths. Kate Douglas took the bronze for the United States.
King has previously won gold medals in the 50 and 100 meters breaststroke at the 2017 and 2019 worlds.
“It’s really nice to be able to complete the set and I think I’m a good swimmer now,” King joked about her 10 medals – nine of them gold – at the world championships. Only Caleb Dressel (15) has won more medals since 2017.
Murphy won the second gold of the night for the Americans in the men’s 200 meters backstroke, clocking a time of 1:54.52 to defeat Britain’s Luke Greenbank by 64 and fellow American Shane Casas by 83.
The 26-year-old Murphy is a seasoned veteran of the US team. This was his first gold in a singles event at the World Championships, adding to his four gold medals in the relay.
“I remember in 2014 I was the youngest on the team and there were some good people running us at the time. It’s great to think I am now in a position to be a youth mentor,” Murphy said. “We have an incredible legacy in the national team.” . It’s great that we’re trying to pay that amount back.”
In the relay, the Americans had to make up the men’s 4×200 freestyle after losing a medal for the first time in that race at last year’s Olympics.
The Australians took another two gold medals in dispute at the Dona Arena in Budapest on Thursday.
Australian Zach Staubletti-Kok, the world record holder for the men’s 200 breaststroke, won in 2:07.07-1.31, ahead of Japan’s Yu Hanajoruma and Sweden’s Eric Pearson, who tied for second. Persson is the first Swede to win a medal at the World Championships since 2007.
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