Dressel, Santos steal limelight at worlds
BUDAPEST: American Caeleb Dressel grabbed his 15th world championship gold medal and his second in two days as he won the 50m butterfly final on Sunday.
The other three winners on Sunday night were all collecting their first major championship golds.
Italian Nicolo Martinenghi won the 100m breaststroke, while American women Alex Walsh, in the 200m medley, and Torri Huske, in the 100m butterfly, took titles.
Dressel took just 18 strokes and 22.57sec for his latest gold.
“In this sport nothing is given,” said Dressel. “I knew my race plan: 18 strokes was my money number and it was exactly 18 strokes.”
Dressel, who said he “felt so lost” after winning five in Tokyo, believes the victory “will definitely boost my confidence.”
“It was good, it wasn’t perfect, none of my races are. I’m excited to get that first individual one out of the way, day off tomorrow, then am excited to get 100 free, and then couple of relays.”
“I never come to these to count medals, it’s just about swimming fast, that’s all that’s on my mind.”
At 42, runner-up Nicholas Santos broke his own record as oldest world championship medallist.
The Brazilian edged Andrew Michael of the United States by one hundredth of a second to claim silver.
“I’m 42 years old, it’s not so easy to stay here competing with these guys,” Santos said. “It’s really painful to stay training hard to get to compete with these guys.”
Martinenghi made the most of the absence of Adam Peaty to grab the 100m breaststroke world title.
“To win my first medal as a gold medal in my first final is every exciting,” he said.
Martinenghi, the bronze medallist in last year’s Olympics, finished in 58.26sec to edge Dutchman Arno Kamminga, who repeated his Tokyo silver with American Nic Fink third.
Walsh collected her first gold medal at a major championships in style as she powered her way to the 200 medley title.
The American, the silver medallist in the Olympics last year, beat Australian Kaylee McKeown, winner of two backstroke golds in Tokyo, by 1.44sec.
In the women’s 100m butterfly, Huske continued her blistering form from the heats as she surged to victory, setting a personal best 55.64sec to beat French hope Marie Wattel by half a second.