DOHA, Qatar (AFP) – Dutch women ended a long wait with two titles at the world swimming championships in Doha on Friday as China also struck double gold.
On a night of first-time world champions, Marrit Steenbergen won the 100m freestyle to claim the first Dutch world title in the pool since 2013.
Barely 45 minutes later, Tes Schouten added another in the women’s 200m breaststroke.
Teenager Dong Zhihao won the men’s 200m breaststroke with a late surge and the Chinese men’s 200m freestyle relay team ended the evening by taking gold.
China pulled further away at the top of the medal table, five months ahead of the Paris Olympics.
Spaniard Hugo Gonzalez also struck in the closing meters to take the 200m backstroke gold.
Steenbergen, a bronze medallist in the event at the championships last year, won in 52.26sec.
She finished 0.30sec faster than Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey, last year’s silver medallist, and a gold medallist in the 200m earlier this week. Australian Shayna Jack was third.
Dong powered from sixth to first in the final 50m, taking his first world title in a personal best time of 2:07.94.
China, with men’s 100m champion Pan Zhanle swimming the third leg, won the 200m relay in 7:01.84sec, just 0.10 ahead of South Korea with the United States third.
For China, which dominated the diving and artistic swimming, it was a sixth medal in the pool.
Overall the Chinese have 31 medals, 22 of them gold. The United States is second with 18 total medals, seven gold.
