Beyond this brilliant effort, the first evening session offered further rarely or never-seen features: a world crown to Austria, compliments of Felix Aubock; a global medley title by Canada and Tessa Cieplucha; a double podium from the rising Italian star Alberto Razzetti; and a golden USA-Canada tie in the women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay.

And there was something which did not change: Daiya Seto claimed his fifth short-course world title in as many editions.

Posting the six best times this year and owning five of the ten fastest ever swims set, Haughey finally claimed the ultimate time standard in the women’s 200m Freestyle. Where Haughey got close twice just weeks ago in Eindhoven at the ISL finals, where she missed Sarah Sjostrom’s mark by 0.22 and 0.23sec, respectively, in Abu Dhabi she surpassed the Swede’s best time to take the world record.

Haughey won by a mile, finishing 1.93sec ahead of USA’s Rebecca Smith, a time generating a roar of approval from the stands in Etihad Arena. She managed to shave 0.12sec off of Sjostrom’s previous world mark (1:50.31), with which Haughey was rewarded with the giant 50,000 USD check on the pool deck, a bonus all world record-beaters will receive from FINA at these short course world championships

And this was not the only highlight of the opening day. While Austria is more famous for achieving big things in the snow during wintertime, now they can celebrate a world title, only Austria’s second in history following Markus Rogan claiming a title in 2008 at the last springtime short course world championships. 

Felix Aubock did really well in the first final of the evening: the 25-year-old was all smiles after he hit first after a brilliantly executed race plan. A man of emotions, Aubock’s face was different back in May when tears of joy watered his cheeks after claiming his first-ever medal at a major event with a silver at the European Championships. In Tokyo he showed different emotions for all the sad reasons as he finished fourth at the Olympics, missing the podium by 0.13sec. But now he blew up the field in Abu Dhabi and was sitting on the clouds while talking about his victory.

“Yeah, I was in tears in May, when I got my first medal at a big event at the Europeans, then came that painful fourth place at the Olympics, but now I’m world champion so I’m all smiles. Especially because I was not really good at short course swimming but today it was much better, what better – it was great! I’m 25, I’m enjoying the best year of my career and that is an amazing feeling.

While talking about alpine skiing rulers succeeding in the short pool, Switzerland grabbed two medals in a span of half an hour as Antonio Djakovic got a bronze in the 400m Freestyle and Noe Ponti finished runner-up in the men’s 200m Butterfly by out-touching 10-time world champion Chad le Clos of South Africa by 0.03sec.

Italy’s Alberto Razzetti left his best to the end, with a brilliant third 50m positioning him well to the final assault which he delivered by leaving everyone behind. He won by a gap of 0.75 seconds and doubled down the world title after he won the short course Europeans five weeks ago in Kazan. 

Razzetti delivered another double by clinching the bronze in the 200m Individual Medley. Previously, only sprinter Filippo Magnini could win two medals in one edition among the Azzurri men. But that was back in 2006 when Magnini took both the 100m and 200m Freestyle titles. But not on the same day, making Razzetti’s feat even that much more breathtaking to bag two medals in two gruelling events on the opening night of action.

“Previously, I had problems with handling the pressure, now I really feel I was set free from all the stress I had at races,” the 22-year-old Italian said. “We changed the training methods and I also discovered new fields mentally.

Daiya Seto continued his golden streak by winning the 200m Individual Medley comfortably. Bouncing back from the utter disappointments in Tokyo (no medals, despite arriving as the reigning world champion in both medley events), Seto was in a commanding mood once again as he expanded his winning streak to five editions, claiming gold in each world championships since 2012.

“I wouldn’t say it was a good swim as I wanted to beat my personal best but it’s good to win, of course,” Seto said. “It was great to train in the US, it was much more different from what we do in Japan and it was great to experience the different methods at different universities. I can’t wait to go back after our home world championships in Fukuoka.”

The women’s 400m Individual Medley also offered a surprising outcome as Tessa Cieplucha claimed Canada’s first gold in the event. And by a quite comfortable margin of 0.97sec before Ireland’s Ellen Walshe.

“This is a great feeling,” Cieplucha said. “In Canada, the women’s IM has been getting stronger and stronger each year. I’ve got great teammates in the national team for the IM events and I’m happy to be part of that and get a medal for tonight. My plan for tonight was just to go and have fun, kind of giving my all as this is the last meet of the year.”

The session-ending 4x100m Freestyle Relay offered the usual thrills. The women’s final turned into a Northern American affair as the US and Canada tied for gold. 

The men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay came down to the final sprint. While Italy seemed to have it, the Russian Swimming Federation’s Aleksandr Shchegolev hit top gear in the last 25m to reach the wall 0.16sec ahead of the Italians – his 45.53 was the fastest swim in the final. 

The battle for the bronze was no less exciting as Sweden out-touched the Dutch by 0.06sec.  While Sweden’s Sjostrom might have lost a world record during the evening session, she clocked the best split of the night despite swimming first, without the flying start advantage to help her country take a global medal by the slimmest of margins.