Kira Toussaint has qualified for the final of the 50 meter backstroke at the World Swimming Championships in Budapest on Tuesday. Compatriot Maaike de Waard stranded at the same distance in the semi-final.
The 28-year-old Toussaint clocked a time of 27.69 seconds and thus advanced to the final in seventh place. De Waard was only eight hundredths slower than Toussaint, but finished tenth.
The time of Toussaint, who finished sixth in the final of the 100-meter backstroke on Monday, was considerably faster than the time (28.17) with which she had qualified for the semi-finals earlier in the day. De Waard was also faster than her time in the morning (28.04), although that was not enough to secure a place in the final.
Toussaint took gold in the 50-meter backstroke during the European Championship short course in Kazan last year and also gold in the 100 and 200-meter backstroke, but many world top players did not participate in the tournament in the Russian city. During that European Championship, De Waard finished third in the 50-meter backstroke and she swam to silver in the 100-meter backstroke.
The final of the 50 meter backstroke will be swum at 6.30 pm on Wednesday. Later in the evening, Toussaint also surprisingly took bronze with the mixed relay team.
Maaike de Waard failed to qualify for the final of the 50 meter backstroke at the World Cup.
Maaike de Waard failed to qualify for the final of the 50 meter backstroke at the World Cup. Photo: Getty Images
Milák extends world title in world record
Kristóf Milák extended his world title in the 200-meter butterfly in a world record. In front of his own audience, the 22-year-old Hungarian took the gold in 1.50.34. With that he was almost four tenths of a second faster than three years ago at the World Cup in South Korea, when he also became world champion in a world record (1.50.73).
“This is my home, this is my pool and lane 4 is mine,” said Milák. “There are four thousand wonderful people here in the stands who come to see me. I couldn’t disappoint them.”
With his world record, the Hungarian not only earned a bonus of 50,000 dollars (converted more than 47,000 euros), but he also receives a personalized NFT. That is a digital token that is worth money online.
American top swimmer Caeleb Dressel withdrew for “medical reasons” from the semifinals of the 100 free and the final of the mixed relay (individual medley). Dressel, 25, won no less than five Olympic golds at the Tokyo Games last year and increased his number of world titles to fifteen in recent days in Budapest. It is not known whether he will return to the Hungarian 50 meter pool later this week.