{"id":534419,"date":"2023-07-30T07:29:43","date_gmt":"2023-07-30T14:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=534419"},"modified":"2023-07-30T09:17:14","modified_gmt":"2023-07-30T16:17:14","slug":"united-states-named-team-of-the-meet-at-world-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/united-states-named-team-of-the-meet-at-world-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"United States Named Team of the Meet at World Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

United States Named Team of the Meet at World Championships<\/strong><\/p>\n

Throughout the eight days of racing at the World Championships, American swimmers struggled to reach the top of the podium<\/a>, with their total of seven marking the fewest by a U.S. team since winning just four at the 1994 edition of Worlds. However, the overall U.S. tally in the medal count was never in doubt, with the team’s 38 top-three finishes matching the 2017 American team for the second-most medals in World Championships history.<\/p>\n

The multitude of podium finishes and finals performances secured the title of Team of the Meet for the United States. At the conclusion of the last session of racing in Fukuoka, World Aquatics presented the award to the four American captains, Ryan Murphy<\/strong> and\u00a0Nic Fink<\/strong> for the men’s team and\u00a0Abbey Weitzeil<\/strong> and\u00a0Leah Smith<\/strong> for the women’s.<\/p>\n

The U.S. team secured the award by saving the best for last, winning three gold medals and seven medals overall on the final night.\u00a0Hunter Armstrong<\/strong> and\u00a0Justin Ress<\/strong> opened the session with a 1-2 finish in the men’s 50 backstroke<\/a> before\u00a0Lilly King<\/strong> earned silver in the women’s 50 breaststroke<\/a>. In arguably the most exciting race of the meet, Bobby Finke<\/strong> won silver in the men’s 1500 free<\/a>, smashing his own American record by five seconds while finishing merely five hundredths behind gold medalist\u00a0Ahmed Hafnaoui<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Katie Grimes<\/strong> put forth a strong performance for silver behind Canadian dynamo\u00a0Summer McIntosh<\/strong> in the women’s 400 IM<\/a> before both American medley relays won gold convincingly, with the men topping runnerup China by 1.80 seconds<\/a> while the women knocked off an Australian squad looking for the relay sweep by 1.29 seconds<\/a>. That brought the Americans to seven gold medals, still well behind Australia’s 13 but clear of third-place China.<\/p>\n

The 38 medals includes finishing on the podium in 34 out of 42 events in Fukuoka. Only seven of those podium finishes were gold, with the Americans netting a whopping 20 silver and 11 bronze. But the spread of strong performers gives the American team a very strong foundation<\/a> upon which to build entering the leadup for next summer’s Paris Olympics, where the aim will surely be to surpass Australia in the gold-medal count after the team from Down Under secured 13 golds in Fukuoka.<\/p>\n

And significantly, the Americans depart Fukuoka with momentum after the string of golden swims on the final evening of competition. The team did not fold after a series of missed opportunities and unexpected breakout performances from international rivals, but the shift Sunday helped the Americans considerably, particularly with the relay wins sought all week. In fact, the team was merely five hundredths away from a doubling of the gold-medal count in one night. That momentum can serve as a force that swimmers from this team can use as they return to training and begin the grind of the Olympic campaign.<\/p>\n