{"id":494801,"date":"2022-01-03T04:00:37","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T11:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=494801"},"modified":"2022-01-02T16:36:12","modified_gmt":"2022-01-02T23:36:12","slug":"swimming-world-january-2022-presents-the-top-5-stories-of-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-january-2022-presents-the-top-5-stories-of-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Swimming World January 2022 Presents – The Top 5 Stories of 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest issue of Swimming World Magazine<\/em><\/span>
\nis now available for download in the<\/span> Swimming World Vault<\/span><\/strong><\/a>!<\/p>\n

Non-Subscribers Can Download This Issue Here<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Top 5 Stories of 2021<\/span><\/h1>\n

By David Rieder
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 2021, major swimming competition made its triumphant return after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 canceled college swimming\u2019s championship season and so many other meets while delaying the Olympic Games one year. <\/strong><\/p>\n

But while the pandemic and its massive effects on the sport were the lone top story of 2020, the action in the pool returned to center-stage in 2021. Unsurprisingly, the focus of the year\u2019s top stories centers on Tokyo, where the Olympics produced some amazing performances and historic results.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. CAELEB DRESSEL WINS FIVE GOLD MEDALS IN TOKYO<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe dominant male swimmer of the past four years brought his talents to the Olympic stage and delivered as promised. Caeleb Dressel competed at the 2016 Olympics, where he won a pair of relay gold medals and qualified for the individual final of the 100 meter freestyle, but it was not until one year later that Dressel broke out. At the 2017 World Championships, he won seven gold medals, equaling the record set by Michael Phelps. Two years later, he captured six world titles and eight total medals, breaking the record for most total medals at a World Championships. Two of those medals were in non-Olympic events, but it was clear that Dressel was set up to excel at his second Olympics\u2014and the one-year delay to 2021 did not affect him.<\/p>\n

In Tokyo, Dressel won five gold medals. His first individual gold came in the 100 freestyle, when he held off a furious back-half charge from chief rival Kyle Chalmers of Australia to win by a mere 6-hundredths, 47.02 to 47.08. Dressel broke the Olympic record in the process. Two days later, he fended off another late push from Hungarian teenager Kristof Milak to capture gold in the 100 butterfly, and he clipped his own world record with a 49.45. Finally, he set another Olympic record on the way to gold in the 50 freestyle, and this one wasn\u2019t close. His victory by 48-hundredths more than doubled the previous largest margin of victory in the event.<\/p>\n

Dressel also led the United States to gold medals in the 400 freestyle relay (with the fastest leadoff split) and 400 medley relay (with the fastest butterfly split). His only blemish came in the mixed 400 medley relay, when the American lineup strategy backfired, leaving the Americans in a stunning fifth place. But otherwise, after years of hype around the American, Dressel lived up to every bit of it in Tokyo. Although Dressel himself shuns comparisons to Phelps, he has surely taken over the mantle of world\u2019s top male swimmer, the one Phelps held for so many years.<\/p>\n

2. EMMA McKEON\u2019S SEVEN MEDALS LEADS AUSTRALIAN WOMEN IN STUNNING TOKYO PERFORMANCE<\/strong><\/span>
\nFor two straight Olympics, Australia\u2019s typically excellent women were underwhelming. At both the 2012 London Games and the 2016 Rio Games, Australia won gold in the women\u2019s 400 freestyle relay on Night 1, and then the women from Down Under were shut out from the top of the podium for the remainder of the Games. But this time, when another group of Australian women arrived in Tokyo with high expectations, they delivered.<\/p>\n

The headliner was Emma McKeon, a relay standout for Australia every year going back to 2013 and the owner of one career individual Olympic medal prior to Tokyo, a bronze in the 200 free in Rio. She had never won an individual gold at a World Championships either. But in Tokyo, the 27-year-old McKeon stepped up and became the world\u2019s best sprinter.<\/p>\n

McKeon won gold medals in the 100 freestyle and 50 freestyle, just missing the world record in both events. She took bronze in a tight 100 butterfly final, and she led Australia to gold medals in the 400 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay. She also was part of bronze-medal efforts in the 800 free relay and mixed 400 medley relay. That gave her seven total medals in Tokyo, breaking a record shared by Kristin Otto and Natalie Coughlin for most total medals at a single Games.<\/p>\n

The other standouts for Australia were 20-year-olds Ariarne Titmus and Kaylee McKeown. Two years earlier, Titmus had uncorked a massive stunner when she beat Katie Ledecky for the world title in the 400 freestyle, and the two faced off again in Tokyo. The much-anticipated grudge match turned into a race for the ages, as the two went blow-for-blow. On the final 100, Titmus surged ahead, and Ledecky tried to respond, but the Australian hung tough. Titmus swam a time of 3:56.69, just 2-tenths off Ledecky\u2019s world record, and Ledecky produced a 3:57.36, the second-fastest mark of her career. That was the moment when Titmus officially arrived on the Olympic stage, and she backed that up two days later when she won another gold in the 200 free, her time of 1:53.50 an Olympic record.<\/p>\n

Finally, McKeown was this year\u2019s backstroke queen. She broke the world record in the 100 backstroke in June, and she finished just off her own mark as she out-dueled two-time world champion Kylie Masse and former world record-holder Regan Smith for gold. Then, she finished 8-tenths ahead of the field in the 200 back for another gold.<\/p>\n

Five women won double individual gold medals at the Olympics, and four of them were from Australia. Not a bad way to answer the critics after two profoundly disappointing Games in a row!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To continue reading the rest of the top 5 stories of 2021, <\/span><\/a>
\n<\/strong>Click here to download the full January issue of Swimming World Magazine, available now!<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Swimming<\/a>[Photo Courtesy: Robert Hanashiro \/ USA Today Sports]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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FEATURES<\/p>\n

012<\/span> THE TOP 5 STORIES OF 2021<\/strong><\/span>
\nby David Rieder<\/strong>
\nWhile the pandemic and its massive effects on the sport were the lone top story of 2020, the action in the pool returned to center-stage in 2021. Unsurprisingly, the focus of the year\u2019s top stories centers on Tokyo, where the Olympics produced some amazing performances and historic results.<\/p>\n

016<\/span> 2021 ATHLETES OF THE YEAR<\/strong><\/span>
\nby Dan D\u2019Addona and Matthew De George<\/strong><\/p>\n