After eight days of exciting competition in Gwangju, South Korea, the Australian Dolphins Swim Team finished second on the medal tally with five gold, nine silver and five bronze medals.
Our Victorians, Jess Hansen, Mack Horton and Matthew Temple certainly did us proud. Here’s how they went…
On the first night, Mack Horton (Melbourne Vicentre) was superb in the 400m Freestyle, claiming Silver behind rival Sun Yang in the second fastest time of 2019, 3:43.17. Horton then produced a breathtaking swim in the Men’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay. Swimming the anchor leg, he stormed home to victory ahead of the Russian and USA teams. He also placed 14th overall in the 800m Freestyle (7:52.65).
No stranger to international competition, Jess Hansen (Nunawading) won a Silver medal in the Women’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay, clocking 3:53.42, the team finishing behind the USA who won in a world record time of 3:50.40. In her individual events she made the final in the 50m Breaststroke finishing in sixth place with her time 30.84, placed 10th overall in the 100m Breaststroke (1:06.98) and 21st overall in the 200m Breaststroke (2:29.18).
Nunawading’s Matthew Temple was impressive in his debut for the Dolphins. In his first event, the 200m Butterfly, he swam a PB in the heats to make the semifinal where he placed tenth overall with his time 1:56.52. But it was the 100m Butterfly where he really got our attention. Competing in his first world championship final, Temple placed an admirable sixth, hitting the wall at 51.51, just four one hundredths of a second off his personal best. He was also part of the Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay team which placed fifth overall.
We now look to the next wave, as the 2019 World Junior Swimming Championships kicks off on Tuesday 20 August in Budapest.
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