Australian sprinter O’Callaghan suffers injury ahead of worlds

The teenager, who won the 100m freestyle at last year’s championships in Budapest, “tweaked” her kneecap while stretching and has been put on a modified training programme, Australia coach Rohan Taylor said.

Mollie O’Callaghan of Team Australia celebrates after picking up a gold medal in the Women’s 100m Freestyle Final at the FINA World Championships at Duna Arena in Budapest on June 23, 2022. | Photo Credit: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Australian Mollie O’Callaghan, who owns the fastest times of the year in both the 100 and 200 metres freestyle, has injured her knee a few weeks out from the start of the world championships in Japan.

The teenager, who won the 100m freestyle at last year’s championships in Budapest, “tweaked” her kneecap while stretching and has been put on a modified training programme, Australia coach Rohan Taylor said.

“It’s all looking good for being at worlds, and there’s nothing saying she’s not going to be there,” Taylor told The Australian newspaper.

“She was in the water doing her thing, and they’re just making sure she doesn’t aggravate it again. We’ve got a month till the racing starts, so we’re pretty hopeful that she’ll be up and fine without any issues. “At this point there’s no need to think of anything but her just getting better and there’s no real issues that I can see or that I’m hearing. I think it’s just a tweak, a bit of a scare and just needs to be managed. But there’s nothing saying she won’t be at worlds.”

The swimming at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka begins on July 23.

O’Callaghan underlined her quality at this month’s Australian trials when she upset Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus to win the 200 in one minute 53.83 seconds, then edged Tokyo gold medallist Emma McKeon to win the 100 in 52.48 seconds.

Taylor said O’Callaghan, who already owns two Olympic and two World Championship relay gold medals at the age of 19, was an integral part of the Australia team.

“She’s a very versatile athlete across the freestyle and backstroke events which is extremely beneficial to us across the relays,” he said.

“We’re fortunate to have a number of our athletes, female athletes in particular, that are like that, so that gives us that strength of relay and depth, and Molly’s a key figure there.”