Pre-race gold medal favourite Mollie O'Callaghan falls short of podium in shock 100m freestyle final
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PARIS: Australian young gun Mollie O'Callaghan took to the women's 100m freestyle final in Paris on Thursday morning (AEST) as the gold medal favourite, but the 20-year-old Queenslander did not win a medal of any colour.
She then had choice words upon reflection of her shock result in the media mixed zone, remarking that she must "suck it up and wait another four years".
The two-lap sprint was taken out by Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom, who won her second Olympic gold medal and first since Rio 2016, as American Torri Huske claimed silver and Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey bronze.
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O'Callaghan finished fourth and fellow Australian Shayna Jack fifth.
O'Callaghan's first lap was the equal-slowest of the field, and although she tore home with the quickest second lap, her time of 52.34 seconds was not hot enough to secure a second gold medal of the Paris Games, following her triumph in the 200m freestyle.
Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom (left) celebrates winning gold as Australian pair Mollie O'Callaghan and Shayna Jack, fourth and fifth respectively, embrace. Eddie Jim
Sjostrom took gold with a time of 52.16, ahead of silver medallist Huske (52.29), bronze medallist Haughey (52.33), the fourth-placed O'Callaghan (52.34) and the fifth-placed Jack (52.72).
Sjostrom was placed fourth when she turned for home, but the Swedish veteran blitzed the second lap in 26.90.
O'Callaghan won 100m freestyle gold at the 2022 and 2023 world championships, but her pursuit of Olympic gold in the two-lap dash will have to wait at least another four years, when Los Angeles hosts the Games.
"I was really nervous heading into this," O'Callaghan said.
"I haven't had a lot of sleep in the past few days and I tried really hard to manage myself and get up for this.
"I knew the 100m freestyle was going to be hard because it's a lot about speed and that's something I really lack in.
"I knew it was going to be a tough race. From the start we were all very close. It was one of those races ... Literally everything counts, if you stuff something up it really costs you. To be honest, I'm happy with it.
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"It's not a great time for me, I expected a lot more, but at the end of the day, you've just got to suck it up and wait another four years."
The race marked Jack's first Olympic final in an individual event.
At the Paris La Defense Arena on Sunday morning (AEST), the 25-year-old Queenslander won gold as a member of the Australian women's 4x100m freestyle relay team.
A failed drugs test and subsequent ban ruined her hopes of making her Olympic debut in Tokyo, although her legal team was successful in arguing she had tested positive to Ligandrol due to contamination.
