‘Can’t be happier’: Alexandria Perkins claims butterfly bronze at world championships
Alexandria Perkins claimed an unexpected world championships medal for Australia in the women’s 100m butterfly final, while China’s 12-year-old Yu Zidi almost became the story of the night.
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In swimming terms Alex Perkins is somewhat of a late bloomer.
But in public perception, the 25-year-old Gold Coaster is now the next member of Generation Next after she stormed home late to secure a bronze medal in the women’s 100m butterfly at the world titles in Singapore.
A day after the women’s and men’s freestyle relay teams shocked the world with a pair of gold medals, it was Perkins who was next to step up and claim an unexpected medal with a third place in the butterfly in 56.33s.
US star Gretchen Walsh claimed the gold medal in 54.73s, just missing her own world record, ahead of Roos Vanotterdijk of Belgium in second while Olympic champ Torri Huske withdrew from the heats as one of the several US stars who had battled a gastro bug throughout the lead up to these titles.
Perkins, a relay heat swimmer silver medallist at the Paris Olympics last year, was fourth at the 50m turn and then came home strongly to secure her first individual international medal.
“I can’t be happier with that,” she said.
Perkins finished 13th in the 100m butterfly at last year’s Olympics, and was happy to have such a strong improvement in 12 months.
“I missed out last year at the Olympics and I’m really proud of myself for coming here and handling my nerves,” Perkins said.
“I was definitely nervous today, but I just kept telling myself I just need to do the best job I can.”
BOHL’D OVER
The men’s 100m breaststroke final was a gold medal result that cut deeper than most.
Not a single Australian qualified for the final, while the winner Qin Haiyang of China was being coached by one of our greatest minds.
Michael Bohl, mentor to the likes of Emma McKeon, Kaylee McKeown and Stephanie Rice, shocked Australian swimming last year when he announced he was taking the year off coaching only to sign a lucrative new deal in China a few months later.
Now, rather than find our next generation of champions, he’s played a major role helping China’s superstar breaststroker return to form.
Qin struggled in Paris last year after he was named as one of the 23 athletes who tested positive but was cleared of a doping violation ahead of the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.
But with Bohl in his corner, he stormed home in the final 25m to secure a comfortable victory.
AWKWARD AUSSIE ABSENCE
If seeing Bohl celebrate a gold medal wasn’t hard enough to stomach, there was more pain throughout the second night schedule to highlight the deficiencies in the Australian swimming team.
No Australian in the men’s 100m breaststroke final.
No Australian in the men’s 100m backstroke semi-finals.
No Australian in the women’s 100m breaststroke semi-finals.
No Australian in the men’s 50m butterfly final.
There will be no Australian in the men’s 200m freestyle final on Tuesday night after Flynn Southam (1:45.80) finished 10th in the semi-finals.
There are some significant gaps in the Dolphins swim team and while it may be too soon to find potential medallists in those races for Los Angeles in 2028, the planning must start now for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games.
CASUAL KAYLEE
Australia’s most dominant current swimmer Kaylee McKeown eased her way into the 100m backstroke final, touching second in her semi-final behind fierce US rival Regan Smith in the semi-finals.
Smith was fastest in 58.21s, closely followed by McKeown in 58.44s.
The pair are expected to battle it out for gold in Tuesday night’s final, with McKeown boasting the better finals record having won in Paris last year and the 2023 world titles where she swept all three backstroke gold medals.
McKeown admitted she has a far different perspective to racing this year than she did at last year’s Olympic Games where she won the 100m-200m double for the second Games in succession.
“I think Paris I really got consumed by the pressure and the nerves, especially the ones I put on myself,” she said.
“This year I’m taking a step back and just enjoying the sport.
“I don’t care if I come last, I’ve just come here for a good time.”
YU WOULDN’T BELIEVE IT
Canada’s Summer McIntosh secured her second gold medal of the world titles, winning the 200m medley in 2:06.69, but it was China’s 12-year-old Yu Zidi who almost completely stole the show.
Yu was already the youngest swimmer to ever qualify for a world titles final, but she almost became the story of the night as she produced a late 50m surge going from seventh to just miss a medal by 0.06s in fourth place.
USA’s Alex Walsh pushed McIntosh down the third 50m but couldn’t hold on in the freestyle leg to touch in second in 2:08.58, followed by Canada’s Mary Sophie Harvey in 2:09.15 ahead of Yu in 2:09.21.
Incredibly Yu’s final 50m freestyle was swum in 30.17s, only 0.01s slower than McIntosh who is the 400m freestyle world record holder.
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Originally published as ‘Can’t be happier’: Alexandria Perkins claims butterfly bronze at world championships
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