ABU DHABI (UAE) - Ranomi Kromowidjojo, meanwhile, wrote her name into the upper echelons of aquatics achievements. With Netherlands’ win in the 4x50m mixed medley relay, Ranomi Kromowidjojo now has gold medals from six editions of the short course world championships, equalling Lochte. 

Le Clos added another podium to his tally, with his second-place performance in the 100m Butterfly marking his 18th career medal at the FINS World Swimming Championships. The South African wants more, specifically targeting Lochte’s record of 24 individual medals over the coming years. 

Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong China achieved one of the rarest feats by winning the 100m and 200m Freestyle at the same world championships. This golden double had never before, with the last double of this kind dating back to 1980.

Haughey has been amazing the fans with her every performance in Abu Dhabi. After setting a world record en route to winning the 200m Freestyle on opening night, she added the 100m Freestyle title tonight. Sarah Sjostrom picked up silver for Sweden, finishing 0.33sec behind Haughey.

While Haughey might have made her wins look easy, the rarity of achieving the 100-200m Freestyle double title is an absolute rarity at this level. Indeed, no one has ever achieved that at the world championships – long- and short-course included. This double was done by East Germans at the Olympics, by Kornelia Ender in 1976 and Barbara Krause in 1980. Without any footnotes attached to these old feats, one should note that especially today there is a sharp division between the specialists of the various distances. 

The abilities required for freestyle sprinting (50m-100m) is much different to those needed to excel in the middle distances (200m-400m). Haughey is special, however. And she offered a glimpse of her unique talent by finishing runner-up in both the 100m and 200m Freestyle at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. In Abu Dhabi, she went one better in each event.

“This is my first-ever short-course World Championships and to get two gold medals…that’s amazing. I feel really good how everything is going so far,” she said. 

Asked how she managed to pull together the golds over these two distances – and reminiscing on her the stats from the past, she said: “The 200m has always been my main event and I think I have a kind of natural speed which helps me in the 200. Having that and a bit of endurance because of the 200m, it definitely helps the 100m too. I didn’t know these statistics, but I was always for the 100 and 200 anyway.”

The first part of the session brought another medal feast for the Americans as they did a 1-3 finish in both the men’s 200m Breaststroke and the women’s 200m Backstroke. Veteran Nic Fink did an amazing job, the 28-year-old hit the wall first on lane 8, out-touching Olympic silver medallist Dutchman Arno Kamminga by 0.14 sec as teammate Will Licon took the bronze.

Then came the ‘dolphin contest’ – the women’s Backstroke final was decided underwater rather than through the turns and the kicks with Rhyan White bettering the performance of long-and-short course world champion Canadian Kylie Masse. They swam approximately half of the distance in classic backstroke while spending the first 12-13m and the last 3-4m under the surface in each leg. The legwork brought White the title, with fellow American Isabelle Stadden got the bronze.

“I knew it was going to be a really close race, all those girls definitely wanted to win here,” White said. “We talked with my coach and we just decided that I should make my move when I thought it was the right moment and I did it in the middle 50 and it worked. It’s great that my coach is with me this time, it was different in Tokyo, and I was struggling there a bit.”

Le Clos missed one historical achievement yet ticked another as Italy’s Matteo Rivolta pipped him for the 100m Butterfly title by 0.17sec. The South African could have equalled the record for most gold medals in the same event at the short course worlds, with Great Britain’s James Hickman having won five 200m Butterfly titles and le Clos having triumphed at the four previous 100m editions of the butterfly. Still, he managed to claim a medal both in the 100m and 200m for the fourth straight championships, an outstanding feat.

“Man, it’s like a gold medal for me, to get these podiums after what I’ve been through not long before,” said Le Clos who had to withdraw from the World Cup series due to a shoulder injury after the first leg in October. 

“I have no problems not winning these events here and congrats to Matteo, he was amazing. But I can tell you, I’ll come back next year, and I’ll be on top again. I need six more medals to catch Ryan Lochte and become the best short course swimmer ever! FINA should give me a very nice prize for that!”

Le Clos referred to the individual medals at the short course world where Lochte leads 24-18 (the American recorded 38 total medals including relays, hardly be bettered in the near future). At the same time, Italy doubled down on the longer butterfly events as Rivolta’s victory followed Alberto Razzetti’s win in the 200m.

“Winning gold as a 30-year-old… I think this is something special,” Rivolta said. “You know what, this was my first-ever final at short course world championships, and the first at any worlds since Barcelona 2013. 

“Something has changed in me, especially mentally in the last couple of months. I clocked two new Italian records, I had good swims in the ISL, that event definitely helped to improve my condition and here I am. Now let me enjoy this!”

Li Bingjie maintained China’s supremacy in the women’s 800m free, winning the fifth gold for her country in this event - a record number for China. Until almost the halfway mark, Bingjie was under world-record pace. Despite slightly dropping off this torrid pace, she beat the championship record set by Mireia Belmonte in 2014 - though the Spanish still has her name in the record books by holding the event’s world record. 

“Beating the world record is a dream but I’m still far from it, I’m just happy with this gold medal,” Li said.

The mixed medley dash relay offered the usual thrills as, unlike in the freestyle where everyone goes for the male-male-female-female order, the mix of the stroke specialists differs. The Dutch turned 6th onto the last leg, trailing by more than two seconds to the leading Italian and US teams but they had a male, Thom de Boer for the anchor leg, while all the others (but Greece) had a female. And de Boer stormed through the field, his 20.23 split unmatchable for the women who all clocked times in the 23s, with the Netherlands winning by 0.84sec.

Since Ranomi Kromowidjojo was part of the show – she swam a mighty fly leg for the Netherlands – she joined the Abu Dhabi history-makers as she already achieved what Le Clos is just vying for, to equal an all-time record of Ryan Lochte. Just as the USA giant won gold at six editions, Kromowidjojo repeated that feat here. While she was not aware of that particular historical fact, Kromowidjojo already has set her eyes on another one.

“Oh, I didn’t know about this record. Wow, this is cool” she said upon learning more about her achievement. “This was a great race. The Americans were our biggest rivals and we did a great job. My split was also really good. I think I’m in fine shape, my 50m fly semis just underlined that (where she advanced in the first place). I think I can pass Katinka (Hosszu) on the all-time medal ranks: I saw she had 27, now this was my 25th. I’ll have the 50m fly and the free, then more relays. I think I have a pretty good chance.”