Australia wins 3 golds, Marchand earns 3rd title at swimming worlds

Australia's winning momentum in swimming has no signs of waning as they bagged three gold medals and broke one world record on Thursday, increasing their gold tally to dominant nine at the World Aquatics Championships, reported Xinhua.

The country's first gold came from Rio Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers in the men's 100m freestyle.

Chalmers, also the silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, clocked 47.15 seconds to secure his first world title in the event.

"I feel awesome," said Chalmers. "It was the last medal to complete the set in my swimming career, so to be able to do that tonight in such a stacked field, it was very special."

American Jack Alexy came in second in 47.31 seconds and Maxime Grousset of France, silver medalist in last year's worlds, placed third in 47.42.

Defending champion David Popovici put up a disappointing performance once again following his poor show in the 200m freestyle. He finished a distant sixth in 47.83.

Kaylee McKeown landed a backstroke gold double, adding the women's 50m backstroke to her 100m trophy.

The 22-year-old McKeown, the Olympic champion in both 100m and 200m backstrokes, clocked 27.08 seconds to give Australia the second gold on the night.

American Regan Smith was second, at only 0.03 seconds behind. Britain's Lauren Cox came in third.

"That is the first time I have done an international fifty so I am very happy," McKeown said. "There is no room to get it wrong...It is an epic race to be in."

The Australia women's team stole the highlight of the night show by retaining their 4x200m freestyle relay title with a world record.

Mollie O'Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Brianna Throssell and Ariarne Titmus led all the way to secure the title in 7 minutes 37.50 seconds, beating their own world mark of 7:39.29 set in last year's Commonwealth Games.

The United States took silver in 7:41.38 and Olympic champion China finished third in 7:44.40.

Leon Marchand of France became the first swimmer to clinch three individual golds after winning the men's 200m medley.

Marchand, the 200m butterfly and 400m medley winner, touched home first in a European record of one minute and 54.82 seconds.

The day's other gold went to Canada's Summer McIntosh, who retained the women's 200m butterfly title in a world junior record of two minutes and 4.06 seconds.

With three days remaining, Australia led the swimming medal tally with nine golds and four silvers, followed by China on 4-0-5 and the United States on 3-10-8.