Meg Harris claims 50m freestyle gold to round out world swimming championships
Meg Harris won Australia's final gold medal at the world swimming championships. (Getty images: Albert ten Hove)
In short:
Australia's Meg Harris has won the gold medal in the women's 50m freestyle final to wrap up the world swimming championships in Singapore.
Jenna Forrester finished joint second behind Canada's Summer McIntosh in the 400m individual medley final.
Australia finished second in the overall medal tally behind the United States, after winning eight golds, six silvers and six bronzes.
Australian swimmer Meg Harris has won the gold medal in the women's 50m freestyle final at the world swimming championships in Singapore.
On the final night of competition, Australia's Jenna Forrester and women's medley relay team also claimed silver.
Harris beat Chinese swimmers Quinfeng Wu and Yujie Cheng in 24.02 seconds, marginally slower than the swim that won her the silver medal at the Olympic Games in Paris.
"Stoked, like there's not much more I can say," she said after the race.
Meg Harris celebrates after winning gold in the women's 50m freestyle final. (Getty Images: Maddie Meyer)
"I did the dream that I've been dreaming this whole time, like this is why I swim — also for the enjoyment — but it is nice winning.
"I still can't even put it into words … it'll take a while to process."
Harris, who also won a gold medal in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay on night one of the championships, said she had to reset her outlook after her Paris success.
"It was a bit of a tough one," she said.
"I felt such a high coming off that and then starting this year had to find a new motivation, not just coming in and doing the exact the same thing.
"I tried for the first couple of months, but something just wasn't working, and I needed to find a new way to do it.
"So, I stripped everything back and started with the basics — all the reasons that I started swimming, like I love sprinting, and I love racing."
Harris admitted after the race that she swims with her eyes closed.
"I guess it's just like trying to focus on my stroke," she said.
She also took a breath — against instructions.
"Pretty much my whole training has been to focus on not taking a breath, but it didn't feel so great in the semis, so I just tried to do whatever came naturally and the breath came naturally," she said.
Jenna Forrester finished an equal second behind Summer McIntosh in the women's 400m individual medley final. (Getty Images: Albert ten Hove)
Canada's Summer McIntosh bounced back from her disappointment with her bronze in the 800m from Saturday night to blitz the field in the 400m individual medley.
Her time of 4:25.78 was two seconds slower than her own world record but was a championship record.
Australian Forrester came from third with her last stroke to tie for second with Japan's Mio Narita, 7.48 seconds behind McIntosh.
"Yeah I didn't know that I was going to come in second, I thought, maybe third," Forrester said.
"But seeing second up on the scoreboard I was honestly in disbelief. That was crazy.
"To make a comeback like that this year, I'm super proud of myself. Super grateful to have the support team around me: My coach, my family, my friends.
"It really means the world to me, and I felt like that swim was for everyone who helped me get here."
Mollie O'Callaghan had one last chance to move ahead of Ian Thorpe as Australia's greatest world championship swimmer in the final of the 4x100 medley relay.
But it was the United States that stole the show, breaking their own world record with a time of 3:49.34.
The quartet of Regan Smith, Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske will share a $US30,000 prize for breaking the record.
The United States relay team proved to be too strong for Australia in the 4x100m final. (Getty Images: Maddie Meyer)
The Australian team of Kaylee McKeown, Ella Ramsay, Alexandria Perkins and O'Callaghan came second 3.33 seconds behind the Americans.
"I'm really proud of us all, I think we've all had a big meet," Perkins said.
"Just to come out here and do our best is really important and I think we did a great job.
"Also, a special mention to our little 16-year-old Sienna. She did a great job this morning too."
That medley relay was the last event of the championships, which saw the United States top the medal table with nine gold, 11 silver and nine bronze ahead of Australia in second with eight gold, six silver and six bronze.
"One medal short," Australian head coach Rohan Taylor lamented.
"Obviously you hope for it all the time but it's nice for it to come down to the last relay and we did our best.
"But anyway, they were too good on the day, but that just makes us more hungry for it."
He said there was still room for improvement, given the absence of Ariarne Titmus, who was taking a year off, and decisions by some athletes not to swim in certain races.
Illness also swept through the team and prevented Sam Short swimming in his favourite 800m.
"We've now got past this meet and me in my mindset is looking forward to the future and the next stop is Comm Games and Pan Pacs," Taylor said.
Sam Short was unable to swim in his pet event, the 800m freestyle, after suffering from an illness. (Supplied: Delly Carr/Swimming Australia)
"We had a great conversion rate … as of tonight I think our whole team had a 60 per cent of finals swims that were equal or better than trials, which is something we really strive for."
Loading...Asked for his highlights of the meet, Taylor said they all had a little meaning.
He commended Forrester, who had to wait until the last day of the meet to swim.
He also highlighted the two 100m freestyle relay gold medals on night one and Lani Pallister's silver medal.
"Geez, that 800 free was special last night, it was just epic, I was fanning the whole time," he said.
Asked if Ariarne Titmus planned to come back to the sport after her year off, Taylor said he hoped so
"I haven't had a chat with her, I leave Arnie alone and let her work through that, but if Arnie wants to talk to me she'll obviously ring me," he said.
"But I leave her to make her own decision, but I hope so, I really do. It'd be great."