Australia's first-placed Bronte Campbell (left) celebrates with her third-placed sister Cate after the women's 100m freestyle final at the World Championships in Kazan yesterday. (Reuters)

DPA/Kazan, Russia


Australian Bronte Campbell defeated elder sister Cate and Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom yesterday to claim the women's 100-metre freestyle title at the World Swimming Championships.
Cate Campbell was the defending champion from 2013, but Bronte Campbell’s time of 52.52 seconds won her the gold as her sister trailed two-tenths behind in third. Sjostrom split the sisters, 18-hundredths behind the winner, for silver with Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands fourth.
“It was unbelievable. Me and my big sister were standing up there on the podium singing the national anthem together,” said the 21-year-old Bronte, the younger of the Campbell sisters.
“It was great to be able to share the moment with her.
“As for our family tactics, I guess we sort of made a Campbell sandwich there. I couldn’t believe it when I turned round and saw the one next to my name, then I saw the time as well.
“I couldn’t be happier with that. It’s everyone’s dream. That is why you train. You want to be the best you can be and today I happened to the best in the world.
“That sounds really strange coming out of my mouth, truly surreal. I’ve had back-to-back training and that’s an advantage I had over Cate,” added Bronte, referring to her sister’s shoulder surgery last year.
This is the second time the Campbell sisters have been on the podium together in Kazan. Bronte Campbell collected her second gold in Kazan after the sisters both swam in Australia’s victorious 4x100m freestyle relay team last Sunday.
“Its a fantastic night for the Campbell family, it’s a fantastic night for Australia,” said Cate Campbell, 23, who had won the 100m world title in Barcelona two years ago.
“I still got to stand up on the podium and sing the national anthem. I couldn’t be prouder of my little sister.
“I knew I hadn’t won and when I saw a one next to a Campbell. I was like ‘oh my goodness, there’s only one other Campbell in the world in this pool at this moment and it’s not me, so it has to be Bronte’.
“I almost feel a little bit sorry for Sarah—we were a bit rude, we kind of just rushed together and I am so thrilled for Bronte. It was absolutely her moment.”
The Campbell sisters started a great night for Australia in the pool as Mitchell Larkin completed the backstroke double with gold in the men’s 200m final having already won the 100m final on Tuesday. The men’s team then claimed bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay final behind winners Britain and silver-medallists the USA.
Elsewhere, Kanako Watanabe of Japan won a breakthrough gold in the women’s 200m breaststroke, and Marco Koch won Germany’s first pool gold of the championships in the men’s 200m breast.
Britain won a tight 4x200m men’s freestyle relay, narrowly pipping the United States and Australia with Russia fourth.
A remarkable women’s 200m breaststroke went to Watanabe in 2:21.15 with Micah Lawrence of the United States 1.29 seconds behind in silver.
The 18-year-old Watanabe took a first career Worlds gold after finishing second in the 200m individual medley.
The real drama in the race concerned bronze as Danish world record holder Rikke Moller Pedersen tied Spain’s Jessica Vall and China’s Shi Jinglin in a three-way share on 2:22.76.
Things were more clear-cut on the men’s version as Koch won in 2:07.76, 0.29 seconds ahead of American Kevin Cordes and a further five-hundredths up on Hungarian Daniel Gyurta.
Koch built on his 2014 European Championships gold by being another who won his first world title, having taken silver in 2013.
The final medal of the evening went to Britain as the quartet of Daniel Wallace, Robbie Renwick, Calum Jarvis and James Guy triumphed in 7:04.33, 0.42 seconds ahead of the Americans. Ryan Lochte gave the US an early lead, but the Brits clung on and 200m individual champion Guy won it on the anchor.
In the semi-finals of the women’s 200m backstroke, American defending champion Missy Franklin progressed third to the final with Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu topping the sheets.
Hungarian Laszlo Cseh and American Tom Shields shared first in the 100m men’s butterfly semi-finals with defending champion Chad Le Clos, who took silver in the 100m, third.
American Nathan Adrian was quickest in the men’s 50m free, but Russian hopeful Vladimir Morozov faced a swim-off with Anthony Ervin of the US for the last place in the final.
In the women’s 50m fly semi-finals, the 100m title holder, Sjostrom, recovered from her freestyle effort to progress first with a championship record 25.06.