Swimming with her eyes shut, Meg Harris put a golden exclamation mark on Australia’s world titles with victory in the women’s 50m freestyle. Harris’ gold medal on Sunday’s last night of the titles in Singapore came amid silver medals to compatriot Jenna Forrester (women’s 400m medley) and Australia’s women’s 4x100m medley relayers.
Australia, with eight gold, six silver and six bronze, finished second on the medal tally behind the United States (nine, 11, nine).
The 23-year-old Harris, who is partially deaf, was stunned at her success – not least because she swims the entire lap with her eyes closed.
“It’s normal for me,” Harris said of her shut-eye habit. “I do it a lot in the 50m and in the 100m, I always do it on the second lap. So I’m not quite sure what it is, I do it in training as well, but I guess it’s just like trying to focus on my stroke … not 100%, that’s just what happens.”
Harris clocked 24.02 seconds to claim her first individual title in a career also featuring nine relay golds at Olympics and world championships.
“Stoked … I have achieved what the dream that I’ve been dreaming of this whole time,” said Harris, who won silver in the event at last year’s Paris Olympics.
In the women’s 400m medley final, Australia’s Forrester finished second behind Canadian megastar Summer McIntosh, who won four gold medals in Singapore.
Sam Short’s illness-troubled titles finished with fourth place in the men’s 1500m, Isaac Cooper was seventh in the men’s 50m backstroke and Brendon Smith came last in the men’s 400m medley.
And the Dolphins’ women’s 4x100m medley team of Kaylee McKeown, Ella Ramsay, Alex Perkins and Mollie O’Callaghan took silver in the last race of the championships, won by the US in a world record time of three minutes 49.34 seconds.
O’Callaghan was Australia’s most successful swimmer of the meet with three gold medals and two silvers.
Kaylee McKeown collected two golds, repeating her 100-200m backstroke double from last year’s Olympics, plus a silver while Cam McEvoy became Australia’s oldest gold medallist at a world titles, winning the men’s 50m freestyle aged 31.
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Another veteran, 27-year-old Kyle Chalmers, won gold as part of the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, and bronze in the individual 100m.
Meanwhile, in the diving world titles in Singapore, Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau won the men’s 10m platform for the second time.
The 24-year-old produced consistent excellence in Sunday night’s final – he led after the first dive, was second after the next two, then held the gold medal position for the final three dives.
Rousseau described his gold, which follows his victory in the event at the 2023 world championships, as “unexpected”.
“It definitely feels amazing,” he said.