Zhu Menghui of China competes during the women's 4X100m freestyle relay final at the 19th FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary on June 18, 2022. (Xinhua/Meng Dingbo)
Katie Ledecky started the United States' medal collection at the world swimming championships with a gold in women's 400 meters freestyle while China finished fourth in women's 4X100m freestyle relay.
BUDAPEST, June 18 (Xinhua) -- The United States won two gold medals while Japan had one on the first day of the 19th FINA World Championships with six finals to account for here on Saturday.
China missed the bronze and finished 4th in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay with a time of 3 minutes and 35.25 seconds, as the gold was earned by Australia with a time of 3:30.95. Canada came in second (3:32.15) while the U.S. on third (3:32.58).
Zhu Menghui, Yang Junxuan and Cheng Yujie (from L to R) of China react after the women's 4X100m freestyle relay final at the 19th FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary on June 18, 2022. (Xinhua/Meng Dingbo)
American Katie Ledecky won the women's 400m freestyle with a championship record 3:58.15 while Summer Mcintosh of Canada needed 3:59.39 to take the silver. Leah Smith of the United States got the bronze with 4:02.08.
The American team also won the men's 4x100 freestyle relay by 3:09.34 followed by Australia (3:10.80) and Italy (3:10.95).
In the men's 400m freestyle, New Zealand's Elijah Winnington won by 3:41.22, closely tailed by Lukas Martens from Germany (3:42.85) and Guilherme Costa from Brazil (3:43.31).
The men's 400m medley saw the victory of France's Leon Marchand with a new European record of 4:04.28, followed by two American swimmers Carson Foster (4:06.56) and Chase Kalisz (4:07.47).
Japan won a historic gold in artistic swimming as Inui Yukiko finished with a total score of 92.8662 points to claim the women's technical solo event.
The worlds continue on Sunday with five gold medals up for grabs. ■
