Divers and swimmers have collected silver medals in Doha ahead of the Paris Olympics
Months out from the Paris Olympics Australians are in the medals at the World Aquatic Championships.
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Australian divers have picked up their fourth medal at the World Aquatics World Swimming Championships while open water swimmer Chelsea Gubecka added to her silver collection with a second placing in the women’s 5km.
Dynamic duo Anabelle Smith and Maddison Keeney secured silver in the 3 metre springboard synchronised final in Doha, finishing behind the dominant Chinese pair.
For 31-year-old Smith it was a third world championship medal 13 years since she won her first as a teenager with Sharleen Stratton in the same event in Shanghai 2011.
It took the Australian tally to four medals in the diving pool, headed by Alysha Koloi’s gold and Li Shixin’s silver in the 1m springboard events.
Gubecka added to the national haul with a second placing in the women’s 5km at the at Old Doha Port, only losing out to Dutch veteran Sharon van Rouwendaal, who came from a body length down with 150m remaining, to catch Gubecka who was finished just two seconds behind.
Having already qualified for Paris on the back of her silver medal at the World Championships in July, Gubecka, 25, was rested from her signature 10km event to compete in ocean swimming’s “sprint”.
“It was harder than I thought to sit and watch the 10km earlier this week so it really great to get out there,“ she said.
“There are things to think about and some takeaways … I didn’t really know my form coming in so just wanted to test and see how we were progressing.
“And today’s result cements that what we are doing at home is right, so I’m really happy to walk away with a silver … Sharon (van Rouwendaal) is such a class act … and there’s one race to go for us.”
The bulk of Australia’s Paris-bound swim team have skipped the event in Doha to focus on the Olympics.
Originally published as Divers and swimmers have collected silver medals in Doha ahead of the Paris Olympics
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