Shayna Jack has provided an update on the “freak accident” that ended her comeback world titles campaign, saying she will return home for surgery before resuming her preparations for next month’s Commonwealth Games.
Jack expressed shock and disbelief, revealing she suffered a spiral break in her left knuckle after an incident involving another swimmer ahead of her highly-anticipated 100m freestyle heat on Wednesday.
Posting to Instagram on Thursday, the 23-year old thanked the swimming community for its support and well wishes before outlining her recovery plan to contest the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She also shared a picture of the X-ray, which shows the break in her hand.
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“To ensure the fastest possible recovery for my hand, I will be returning home to AUS for surgery. Post surgery the plan is to return to my teammates … in preparation for the Commonwealth Games,” she wrote.
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Overnight Australia claimed another medal at the FINA World Championships with the women’s 4x200m freestyle team adding to the squad’s silverware collection.
The line-up of Madi Wilson, Leah Neale, Kiah Melverton and Mollie O’Callaghan went one better than last year’s Tokyo Olympics bronze to clinch silver in a time of 7:43.86, 2.41 seconds behind the American team.
Wilson and O’Callaghan joined the team for the final after Lani Pallister and Brianna Throssell completed their roles in the heat. The team’s efforts in the final shaved off almost four seconds from the heat swim.
Wilson led off in a time of 1:56.74 to have Australia third at the first changeover, before a 1:55.27 second leg from Neale – almost two seconds faster than her swim in the heat – gave Australia the lead at the halfway point.
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Melverton more than held her own against American great Katie Ledecky in the third leg with a split of 1:55.91 to handover to O’Callaghan, with the 18-year-old anchoring in 1:55.94 to touch the wall second.
Ledecky took home her 18th world titles gold medal with the relay win, clocking the fastest split of 1:53.67 to help the Americans record a new championship record.
Speaking afterwards, Melverton said she was proud of how she handled the attack from Ledecky.
“Coming in here I knew I would be swimming against Ledecky on that third leg and she is one of the best swimmers of all time. I just did what I needed to do and held my ground and I thought I did a pretty good job of that,” she said.
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After dominating the 4x100m freestyle final earlier in the week, the troupe performances in Budapest add a new chapter to the storied history of Australian women’s relays.
“The 4×2 has such a great history in our country and so for us to get up and win a silver medal together is pretty special,” Melverton said.
Meanwhile, O’Callaghan backed up from her silver medal in the 200m freestyle, winning the second semi final of the 100m freestyle in a time of 52.85 to qualify fastest for Friday’s final.
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World record holder and Olympic champion Zac Stubblety-Cook swam away from the field in the second semi final of the 200m breaststroke, touching first in an electric time of 2:06.72.
A fast second hundred, including a final 50m split 1.85 seconds faster than the next quickest in the field, saw Stubblety-Cook qualify first for the final by more than two seconds.
Jenna Strauch also produced a personal best of 2:22.22 to both win the first semi final of the 200m breaststroke and qualify quickest for the final.
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