It was an outstanding week at the 2022 FINA World Championships held in Budapest, with SASI swimmers contributing to two gold, five silver, one bronze and a world record between them.
The opening night of the event went off with a bang; first up with SASI athletes Meg Harris and Madi Wilson, along with Mollie O’Callaghan and Shayna Jack winning gold in the Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay.
Wilson has been an integral part of Australia's relays for years, winning two Olympic and four world championship gold medals.
In the Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay, Kyle Chalmers delivered an anchor masterpiece to win silver with William Yang, Jack Cartwright and SASI teammate Matt Temple.
Chalmers picked up over a second on the last leg to edge out Italy’s Lorenzo Zazzeri and snatch silver by just 0.15s.
Opening up about the win on his Instagram, Chalmers described it as one of his greatest achievements to date.
“This time 10 weeks ago, I was weighing in at a little over 100kgs, just coming back from shoulder surgery, had six weeks away from the pool and very undecided if I would ever get back in the pool and I was really struggling mentally and physically,” Chalmers said.
“I decided the best thing for me was to throw myself into a new environment to find my passion and love for swimming again.
“I challenge anyone to go through what I have had to endure over this last period and stand up and perform at the highest level.
“All I ever want to do is represent my country, family and friends and compete in the sport I love at the highest level.”
Matt Temple claimed another silver in the 4x100m Mixed Medley Relay with SASI athlete Meg Harris playing a role in the win by swimming in the heats.
Wilson continued to add to her medal collection across the finals by coming away with a silver in the Women’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay and swimming in the heats for the Women’s 4x100m Medley team which also went on to claim second place.
SASI swimmer Zac Incerti joined Elijah Winnington, Sam Short and Mack Horton on the podium after bringing home silver in the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Final.
It was a phenomenal effort from team SASI in the 4x100m Mixed Freestyle Relay where Chalmers and Wilson along with Cartwright and O’Callaghan who won gold and picked up a world record (3:19.38)… this followed fantastic performances in the heats from Harris and Incerti to launch Australia into the Finals.
Rounding out the championships, Harris competed in the Women’s 50m Freestyle and finished third – an amazing comeback given that she had broken her arm at the start of the year.
SASI Head Coach Peter Bishop joined his athletes in Budapest for the competition and was bursting with pride as the event came to a close.
“So grateful to be a part of this Australian team and honoured to work directly with my five SASI athletes - thanks so much team, you make the journey exciting, challenging and oh so much fun,” Bishop said.
“Still plenty more to achieve.”
The squad will now go on to represent Australia at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, which commence on 28 July.
