Gold medalists of Australia (C), silver medalists of the United States (L) and bronze medalists of Canada pose during the awarding ceremony of the women's 4x200m freestyle relay final at the Gwangju 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, July 25, 2019. (Xinhua/Tao Xiyi)
GWANGJU, South Korea, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Australia set the world record in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay final and levelled another world record in the men's 200m breaststroke semifinals at the 18th FINA World Championships here on Thursday.
The Australian swimmers touched home first in seven minutes and 41.50 seconds in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay final, breaking the previous mark of 7:42.08 set by China in 2009.
Australia thus blocked the United States from chasing its fifth consecutive title in the event. The U.S. team had taken the 4x200m freestyle relay title, after losing to China in 2009.
The U.S. quartet finished in 7:41.87 to take the silver medal, after a neck-and-neck race with the winners. Canada pocketed the bronze in 7:44.35.
China's team of Yang Junxuan, Wang Jianjiahe, Li Bingjie and Zhang Yuhan placed in fourth with a time of 7:46.22, failing to reach the medal podium.
In the men's 200m breaststroke semifinals, Matthew Wilson of Australia equaled a world record of 2:06.67 to punch the first ticket to the final in the event.
China's Wang Shun ended the men's 200m individual medley (IM) final in sixth with a time of 1:56.97, 0.83 seconds behind the gold medalist.
"Tonight, I did all I can do. But there may also be some shortcomings in my ability. I didn't make it in the last race," said Wang.
Daiya Seto of Japan finished first in 1:56.14 to pocket the gold medal. It was his second medal of the Gwangju worlds, after taking a silver medal in the 200m butterfly.
Seto was followed by Jeremy Desplanches of Switzerland in 1:56.56. Chase Kalisz of the United States took a bronze medal in 1:56.78.
Caeleb Dressel of the United States, who grabbed seven titles in Budapest two years ago, secured his third title of the Championships in the men's 100m freestyle final.
Dressel touched home first in 46.96, 0.12 seconds ahead of the runner-up Kyle Chalmers of Australia. Vladislav Grinev of Russia took a bronze medal in 47.82.
The U.S. swimmer earlier claimed titles in the 50m butterfly and the 4x100m freestyle relay events. Dressel took the silver in the mixed 4x100m medley relay.
Boglarka Kapas of Hungary took a gold medal in the women's 200m butterfly, finishing in 2:06.78, followed by Hali Flickinger of the United States in 2:06.95 and her teammate Katie Drabot in 2:07.04 who pocketed silver and bronze respectively.
In the women's 50m backstroke, the U.S. record holder Olivia Smoliga hit the wall first in 27.33 to take a gold medal, followed by Etiene Medeiros of Brazil in 27.44. Daria Vaskina of Russia won bronze in 27.51.
"The gold medal is what I was hoping for. I worked hard this season than last season... I was just trying to keep myself calm honestly," said Smoliga.
In the men's water polo semifinals, Spain defeated defending champion Croatia 6-5 to gain a berth for next year's Tokyo Olympic Games. In the other semifinal match, Italy beat the 2017 silver medalist Hungary 12-10.
"Going to the Olympics is the main goal of the minority sports like water polo. We've reached this goal, and this is more important than the final of the championship," said Felipe Perrone, captain of the Spanish team.
"But as we are in the final, we're going to try to win, do everything we can, just rest and now think about the game the day after tomorrow," said Perrone.
