by ANDY ROSS
28 July 2019, 06:00am
FINA World Swimming Championships (Caeleb Dressel and Sarah Sjostrom)
Day Eight Finals
The 2019 FINA World Swimming Championships came to a close on Sunday night in Gwangju, South Korea with Caeleb Dressel and Sarah Sjostrom being announced as swimmers of the meet. Dressel won six gold medals and two silver medals this week to become the first swimmer to ever win eight medals in a single World Championships while Sjostrom won a gold, two silvers and two bronze medals.
Dressel and Sjostrom also won the swimmers of the meet at the 2017 FINA World Swimming Championships in Budapest.
Caeleb Dressel – USA
Dressel became the first swimmer to ever win eight medals in a single World Championships. His biggest highlight of the week was when he broke the world record in the 100 fly in the semifinals on day six to lower Michael Phelps’ 10-year-old record. Dressel also broke American records in the 50 and 100 free as well as the 50 fly. He also led off the mixed 4×100 free relay that broke a world record in the final.
- Gold – 4×100 Free Relay
- Gold – 50 Fly
- Gold – 100 Free
- Gold – 50 Free
- Gold – 100 Fly (WR in semifinals)
- Gold – Mixed 4×100 Free Relay
- Silver – Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay
- Silver – 4×100 Medley Relay
Sarah Sjostrom – SWE
Sjostrom was the most decorated woman swimmer at the Championships, winning five individual medals in total. Australia’s Ariarne Titmus won five medals but had four individuals, winning the gold medal in the 4×200 free relay.
Sjostrom had one gold medal in the 50 fly this week, winning that event for the third time in her career. She became the first woman to win that event three times at the World Championships in the event’s short history. Sjostrom also finished second in the 100 fly and 50 free and picked up bronzes in the 100 and 200 free.
She became the first woman to have won five medals in individual events at a single world championships.