Simone Manuel: 1st woman to win 7 medals in single world swimming championships

After becoming the first American woman in history to sweep the 50 and 100 free at the FINA World Aquatics Championships Sunday, and then anchoring world record on the women’s 4×100 medley relay, Simone Manuel completed the most decorated performance by a woman in Worlds history by winning seven total medals.

Manuel won four golds and three silvers throughout the week. In addition to the free sprint wins and women’s medley relay, she was on the winning mixed 4×100 medley relay, then took silver on the women’s 4×200 free relay and 4×100 free relay, and mixed 4×100 free relay.

Manuel shared the previous record of six medals (she did it in 2017) with seven other women: Shirley Babashoff (1975), Tracy Caulkins (1978), Mary T. Meagher (1986), Kristin Otto (1986), Missy Franklin (2013), Katie Ledecky (2017), and Emma McKeon (2017).

With Sunday’s relay finish, Manuel ties Missy Franklin in medal count (16) and now trails only Katie Ledecky in medal caliber, but American Natalie Coughlin and Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom are also ahead of her in overall count with 20 and 17, respectively.

[SOURCE: SWIMSWAM]

Simone Manuel takes 100-meter gold at FINA World Championships

American swimmer Simone Manuel proved her winning performance in the 100-meter freestyle at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro wasn’t a fluke on Friday when she added another gold to her growing medal collection by winning the event at the FINA World Championships in Budapest.

Manuel, who had never medaled in the event at worlds before, set a new American record on Friday, winning in 52.27 seconds.

The 20-year-old also beat out heavy favorite Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, who holds the world record in the event and had days earlier swam the length in 51.71 seconds as part of Sweden’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay team. (Incidentally, Team USA, which included Manuel, ended up winning that event, too.)

[SOURCE: Washington Post]

Simone Manuel: First African-American woman to medal in an individual swimming event.

Simone Manuel won a gold medal in the women's 100 freestyle final Thursday night, surprising even herself.

Her jaw dropped as she looked up to the scoreboard and saw a tie for gold and an Olympic-record time of 52.70 seconds. A FINA official confirmed that Manuel is the first African American woman to win Olympic gold in an individual event.

The last time an American woman won gold in the event was 1984, when Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer also tied.

This is the first tie for a gold medal since Anthony Ervin and Gary Hall Jr. did it in the 50 free in Sydney in 2000.

[SOURCE]

Black Swimmers Make History At NCAA Championship

African-American swimmers took the top three finishes in a single event at the Women's Division 1 NCAA Championship this weekend, a feat recognized by the national governing body of swimming in the United States with a celebratory tweet.

History @NCAA Swim Championships 100 free as @simone_manuel @LiaNeal @nathindss became first African-Americans to earn 1-2-3 #sportforall

— USA Swimming (@USASwimming) March 22, 2015

Freshman phenom Simone Manuel of Stanford set an NCAA, American, U.S. Open, Championship and Pool record when she clocked a time of 46.09 in the women's 100 yard freestyle.

Manuel's Stanford teammate Lia Neal came in second place with a time of 47.13. (Fans may recall that Neal won a bronze medal in the 4x100 free relay at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.)

The University of Florida's Natalie Hinds swam a time of 47.24. Hinds reset her own-school record in the event during competition.

Jamaican swimmer Alia Atkinson becomes first black woman to win world title

Alia Atkinson became the first black woman to win a world swimming title when she triumphed in the 100m breaststroke at the world short-course championships in Doha on Saturday as more records tumbled.

Jamaican Atkinson, 25, claimed the title and equalled Ruta Meilutyte's world record of 1min 02.36sec in the process - although under governing body FINA rules this still equates to a new record.

Meilutyte appeared on course for a successful defence of her title only for her rival to move on to the Lithuanian's shoulder at the final turn.

Atkinson then clawed her way down the final length before out-touching the 17-year-old by 0.10sec.

Watch a post race interview with Alia Atkinson below: