(MENAFN- Gulf Times) American Caeleb Dressel confirmed his arrival on the global stage with a historic three gold medals at the world swimming championships in Budapest yesterday, while Katie Ledecky claimed a fifth victory. The 20-year-old won the men's 50-metre freestyle and the 100m butterfly before going on to take gold in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay to become the first to win three world titles in a day at the championships.
His compatriot Ledecky cruised the women's 800m free, while Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom won the women's 50m butterfly gold before seizing the world record in the women's 50m free.
Australian Emily Seebohm retained the women's 200m backstroke in which Hungarian ace Katinka Hosszu took silver to the delight of the roaring Danu Arena.
Dressel led from the front in the men's power sprint to touch up in 21.15 seconds. Brazil's Bruno Fratus took silver 9-tenths of a second behind while Britain's Benjamin Proud won bronze in 21.43 seconds.
A trip to the warm-up pool followed in lieu of celebration and Dressel returned around 35 minutes later for the butterfly.
Dressel led throughout the race to take victory in 49.86 seconds, just 4-hundredths shy of the world record set by the great Michael Phelps back in 2009. 'I think being that close to something, I can taste it a little bit. It's nice, it's humbling to be that close to a number of records, Dressel said.
Hungarian teenager Kristof Milak delighted the crowd with silver in a world junior record 50.62 seconds, while Singapore's Joseph Schooling and Britain's James Guy shared bronze in 50.83 seconds.
'I am at loss of words now, Milak said. 'I had a feeling that it would end in a good time but I didn't think it would be so outstanding.
The 100m free champion Dressel was previously part of the victorious men's 4x100m freestyle and mixed 4x100m medley relay teams and took his overall gold tally to six in the 4x100m free relay.
Dressel led off the relay and handed over a lead which Nathan Adrian, Mallory Comerford and Simone Manuel expanded. Manuel touched up after 3 minutes 19.60 seconds, well ahead of the Netherlands in 3:21.81 minutes and Canada in 3:23.55 minutes.
The previous record of 3:23.05 minutes was set by the US at the last worlds in Kazan. If successful in today's men's 4x100m medley relay, Dressel could yet match Phelps' achievement at Melbourne 2007 of winning seven golds at a single championships.
'Tonight was pretty busy, it's physically challenging and mentally straining, Dressel said.
Ledecky won her third successive women's 800m free unchallenged from start to finish. The dominant distance swimmer of her generation, Ledecky led from the 50m point to win in 8:12.68 minutes, albeit well outside of her own world record. China's Li Bingjie took silver in 8:15.46 minutes with bronze going to another American, Leah Smith, in 8:17.22 minutes.
Ledecky was aiming for six golds in Budapest, to match the 2013 record of compatriot Missy Franklin, but a first-ever defeat in a major individual final saw her take only silver in the 200m free. 'My goal was to go out there and win the gold medal for team USA and put together as super a race as I could, Ledecky said. 'I wanted to end on a good note for the team.
Including relays, the 20-year-old Ledecky currently has five Olympic golds and 14 world titles in her career to date. By far the best butterfly swimmer in the world over short distances, Sjostrom posted a championship record 24.60 seconds for the win over 50m, 0.78 seconds ahead of Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands.
Farida Osman took a first-ever championships medal for Egypt with bronze a further 1-hundredth of a second behind in an African record. Sjostrom returned to the pool for the semis of the women's 50m freestyle and paced the field to Sunday's final in 23.67 seconds to undercut German Britta Steffen's 2009 mark by 6-hundredths of a second.
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