{"id":520306,"date":"2022-12-28T15:49:18","date_gmt":"2022-12-28T22:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=520306"},"modified":"2022-12-28T16:16:11","modified_gmt":"2022-12-28T23:16:11","slug":"mollie-ocallaghan-packaged-sterling-year-on-way-to-female-breakout-swimmer-of-the-year-honors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mollie-ocallaghan-packaged-sterling-year-on-way-to-female-breakout-swimmer-of-the-year-honors\/","title":{"rendered":"Mollie O’Callaghan Packaged Sterling Year On Way To Female Breakout Swimmer of the Year Honors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mollie O’Callaghan Packaged Sterling Year On Way To Female Breakout Swimmer of the Year Honors<\/strong><\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s teenage world champion Mollie O\u2019Callaghan<\/strong> has a 2022 highlights reel to die for, with 11 international gold medals, two world records and a No 1. World Ranking.\u00a0A year in the pool that any 18-year-old in any sport would be proud of and it\u2019s no surprise to see her named as the Swimming World Female Breakout Performer of the Year for 2022.<\/p>\n

O’Callaghan’s record haul of gold medals at the Queensland<\/a> State Championships would springboard the Tokyo Olympic debutant (where she won two relay god medals) to a year to remember.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan emerged from her post-Olympic slumber at the 2021 McDonald\u2019s Queensland Championships and raced a whopping 12 open and age-group individual events and three relays for a total of 27 races in seven days. She won a remarkable 14 gold and one bronze medal, providing a hint that backstroke was also very much on the Mollie-O radar.<\/p>\n

She went on to become Australia\u2019s newest and youngest world champion in the 100 freestyle in Budapest, before lowering the colours of reigning Olympic 100 freestyle champion Emma McKeon<\/strong> and adding her name to the list of Australians to also have won the Commonwealth Games gold in the blue ribband freestyle event.<\/p>\n

\u201cMollie-O\u201d became the fifth Australian to win the World\/Commonwealth 100 freestyle double, joining Jodie Henry<\/strong>, Libby Trickett<\/strong>, Cate Campbell<\/strong> and Bronte Campbell<\/strong> on an illustrious list of Australian sprinters. She is the eighth Australian to win the Commonwealth Games title, with Sonya Gray<\/strong>, Karen Van Wirdum<\/strong> and Alicia Coutts<\/strong> also featuring in a proud history.<\/p>\n

And O\u2019Callaghan also gave St Peters Western teammate, Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus<\/strong>, a mighty scare over the 200 freestyle in Birmingham before her sterling silver behind Australia\u2019s third Olympic golden girl Kaylee McKeown<\/strong> in the 100 backstroke at the Melbourne Short Course World Championships.<\/p>\n

O’Callaghan also continued to thrive on Australia\u2019s premier relays teams as a member of the Dolphins world record-breaking teams in the 4x200m freestyle relays both long course (in Birmingham) and short course (in Melbourne).<\/p>\n

It was a remarkable year for the shy Dean Boxall<\/strong>-coached<\/a> O\u2019Callaghan, with a total international medal haul of 20 medals and the No. 1 world ranking of 52.49 in the 100m freestyle. She owns six of the fastest 10 times of 2022 and sits second behind Titmus over 200m freestyle with her 1:54.01.<\/p>\n

Here is Mollie\u2019s detailed medal list that made her the Female Breakout Swimmer of the Year for 2022:<\/p>\n

Gold (11)<\/strong><\/p>\n