GWANGJU, South Korea (AP) – Simone Manuel wasn’t swimming up to her standards, and she felt her relay anchor leg that resulted in a silver medal for the US proved it.
Then she remembered it’s about bouncing back.
Manuel, an African-American, did just that Friday in the 100 freestyle, winning her second straight title at the world championships on a day when three world records fell – the men’s 100 butterfly and 200 breaststroke and the women’s 200 backstroke.
Relegated to Lane 1 with the slowest qualifying time, the American led all the way and touched first in 52.04 seconds, beating Cate Campbell of Australia by 0.39 seconds.
Manuel was unable to hold off Campbell on the anchor leg of the 4×100 free relay earlier in the meet, with Australia claiming gold and the U.S. silver.
Manuel became the second woman to win multiple titles in the 100 free, joining Kornelia Ender of the former East Germany, who won in 1973 and ’75.
Mack Horton rallied Australia to victory in the men’s 4×200 freestyle relay, putting them in front with a lap to go. Clyde Lewis, Kyle Chalmers, Alexander Graham and Horton won in 7:00.85.
Yuliya Efimova of Russia claimed a record third title in the 200 breaststroke. She won in 2:20.17 without competition from American rival Lilly King, who was disqualified in the preliminary heats when she didn’t touch both hands on the wall at the same time in a turn.
Anton Chupkov of Russia broke the world record in the 200 breaststroke, touching in 2:06.12 in defense of his title from two years ago in Budapest.
That lowered the mark of 2:06.67 that Matthew Wilson of Australia had tied in the semifinals a day earlier. Ippei Watanabe of Japan, who earned bronze, set the mark in January 2017 in Tokyo.
Evgeny Rylov of Russia defended his 200 backstroke title, beating Olympic champion Ryan Murphy after the two dueled through the closing meters.
Rylov led all the way and touched in 1:53.40. Murphy settled for silver in 1:54.12. Luke Greenbank of Britain earned bronze.
Two more world records fell in semifinals at the hands of Americans.
Caeleb Dressel broke Michael Phelps’ record in the 100 butterfly and Regan Smith lowered the mark in the 200 backstroke.
Dressel won his heat in 49.50 seconds — 0.32 seconds better than Phelps’ mark set at the 2009 world meet in Rome at the height of the high-tech suit era.
Dressel was out in 22.83 seconds — 0.53 seconds under Phelps’ pace — and came home in 26.67 to lead eight men into Saturday’s final.
Smith, who is 17, won her semifinal heat in 2:03.35. That erased the old mark of 2:04.06 set by Missy Franklin at the 2012 London Olympics.
