Eighteen-year-old Mollie O’Callaghan won the 100m freestyle and claimed silver in the 200m and the 50m backstroke. Titmus and McKeown are only in their early 20s, but there is also a new, even younger crop of swimmers progressing through the Australian ranks. McKeown got the better of Canadian rival Kylie Masse in both the 100m and 200m backstroke, a repeat of the outcomes at last year’s Olympics.Įlijah Winnington in action during a 200m freestyle heat. That will likely change by Paris, where a three-way duel between Titmus, McIntosh and American Katie Ledecky could be the encounter of the meet. While 15-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh was hot on Titmus’s heels in the 400m, the prodigy is not yet truly threatening. Titmus showed her strength across multiple distances by winning the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle crowns. Tokyo stars McKeon, Ariarne Titmus and Kaylee McKeown led the charge. The team’s decision to send home youngster Isaac Cooper prior to the Games for “ wellbeing challenges” recalled those dark days, but – beyond some terse words from Chalmers to the media – the Dolphins let their swimming do the talking. In the past that might not have been assured – the Dolphins have previously struggled with controversy and the glare of the spotlight (most famously at the 2012 Olympics). Despite the distraction and its consequences for the mental health of several in the team, they managed to perform when it counted. The performances are all the more impressive given the media storm that hung over the meet, an almost-obsessive focus on the supposed love triangle between McKeon, freestyle king Kyle Chalmers and pop star turned swimmer Cody Simpson. But placed into the wider context – following an emphatic return to Olympic form at Tokyo 2020 last year, and with many Australians backing up in Birmingham not long after the world championships – and the signs are positive with two years to go until the Paris Olympics. Indeed at the last Games on the Gold Coast, the Dolphins performed slightly better, winning 28 of 50 gold medals. This is not itself surprising – Australia has a long history of dominating the Commonwealth Games, including the swimming. It was, in other words, an extraordinary swim meet for the Australians. And such was the strength and breadth of the Dolphins that there were only seven podiums across the entire meet that did not feature at least one Australian. Australian swimmers swept the podium in four events: the men’s 400m freestyle and the women’s 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle. Swim queen Emma McKeon won six gold medals – she alone sits fourth on the medal tally, ahead of the entire New Zealand team. Australian won seven of the eight relays, falling only to England in the men’s medley relay. The superlative statistics don’t end there. The Dolphins won as many gold medals in Birmingham as England, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Northern Ireland combined – just one gold shy of claiming fully half of the available titles. As the meet concluded on Wednesday, Australia won the last race of the evening – the women’s 4x100m medley relay – to collect the nation’s 25th gold. O ver the past six days of swimming at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre, 52 Commonwealth Games gold medals have been on offer.

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