Gastro outbreak hands Aussies two gold medals at World Championships
Aussie swimmers have shattered records and expectations while their American rivals battle a health crisis derailing their campaign.
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America’s pain is Australia’s gain.
At least it has been so far at the World Aquatics Championships where the team expected to dominate the event, Team USA, got off to a horrifying start due to a gastro outbreak.
The Australian women’s 4x100m freestyle women’s team kicked things off in Singapore taking gold as the hotly placed American’s had to settle for silver.
The men backed them up just moments later with a remarkable come from behind victory thanks to big name Kyle Chalmers who led the way to a resounding 3:08:07 championship record leaving the US favourites reeling in third place.
It ended a remarkable first day of eight for the Aussies, capped also by Sam Short taking silver in the men’s 400m freestyle over the red white and blue.
The World Aquatics Championships is a major international competition attracting the world’s best aquatic athletes in a range of disciplines extending from swimming and diving to water polo.
But the US’s downfall is a sad one after it was revealed the team is battling an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis, which initially started taking out swimmers in the lead up to the event.
Officials from the team explained the illness originated from a pre-meet training camp that the side undertook in Phuket, Thailand, which affected the sides’ performances on Sunday.
US Swimming spokesperson Nikki Warner said all team members travelled to Singapore but did not specify how many were affected by the condition.
Reports suggested “almost half” of the roster had come down with illness, however it was from the broadcast vision there were at least three.
Just moments before the women’s freestyle relay final won by Australia, Olympics relay gold medalist Gretchen Walsh pulled out of the race.
While Torri Huske did manage to get through the same race, the reigning Olympic 100m butterfly champion had to withdraw from the preliminary heats of her signature race.
18-year-old Claire Weinstein was also omitted from the 400m freestyle, while 16-year-old Luca Mijatovic, the youngest US male swimmer to compete at a World Championships since Michael Phelps in 2001, was also pulled from the same men’s event.
The teenager courageously competed in the freestyle prelims, however was visibly unwell during it as he locked in at a whopping 15 seconds slower than his entry time.
The only positive for the Americans was that their most lauded swimmer Katie Ledecky seemed unaffected by the illness as she posted the fasted qualifying time in the women’s 40mm freestyle prelims and is set to face off in the final.
The Championships were set to be a resurgent moment for the US after the team only claimed eight golds at the recent Paris games, their lowest number in almost 40 years.
Meanwhile Aussie Chalmers praised his relay team full of youth and desire to replicate their success at the upcoming LA Olympics.
“We’ve won bronze, bronze, silver. I really desperately want to win a gold medal in a few years’ time,” he said.
The US team will be hoping they can shake off their unfortunate illness woes and recoup their losses with seven more days of the Championship still remaining.
Originally published as Gastro outbreak hands Aussies two gold medals at World Championships
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