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Pool swimming got underway today at the 2021 FINA Swimming World Championships (25m) in Abu Dhabi, UAE, where swimmers are proving the wait was worth it. 

The prize money has doubled this year, up to 2.8 million USD total, including a $50,000 bonus to any swimmer who breaks a world record. For each event, the first place finisher receives $15,000, second place receives $12,000 and third receives $10,500. These championships mark the largest prize pool to date for any FINA swimming event.

The Americans wasted no time making it back for finals to secure their prize, along with medals, titles and personal bests.

The first medal for USA came in the Women’s 200-meter Free, where Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey won her country’s first world record and first world championship win. Her world record time of 1:50.31 also earned her a $50,000 bonus prize. The U.S.' Paige Madden fished third with a personal best by almost two seconds in a 1:53.01, nabbing the bronze.

“It feels good. I was just really happy to [be in the] final,” said Madden. “I’m not really used to short-course meters, I didn’t really train for [International Swimming League], so I knew I would go a best time and that is all I could ask for. I’m really happy with it.”

The women’s 400m I.M. featured two U.S. finalists. Emma Weyant, the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 silver medalist, snuck into the finals by three tenths of second alongsie Olympian Melanie Margalis, former record holder who just missed the Olympic Team this year. Margalis rallied back in the freestyle leg of today's race to close the event with a bronze in a 4:26.63. Weyant just missed the podium with a fourth place finish in a 4:27:45, a huge drop from her prelims swim. 

“I’m just really happy to be representing the U.S. again. I feel like after I missed the [Olympic] team this summer, getting back on the team gave me so much gratitude being able to represent the United States again,” said Margalis. “I’m just happy to get a medal for the team.” 

Margalis’ storied career and steadfast leadership earned her a U.S. Female Team Captain title,  elected by her teammates. “It feels good that people voted for me, I was kind of surprised. I just hope that I can be a good leader and try to give some of my knowledge on to the younger kids,” she said.

In the men’s 200m I.M., fans finally got to see Carson Foster's big debut on a senior international stage, where he earned a silver medal and a nice cash bundle with his 1:51.35 finish behind Japan’s Daiya Seto.

“It feels good,” said Foster. “I’m really excited to get my first senior international race under my belt and to come out with a medal is exciting. I’m excited for the rest of the meet.” 

USA’s Kieran Smith, who finished fifth here, has a busy week here with his 400m free he swam earlier and got fifth, and his 200m Free and 400m I.M. still to swim. Smith was instrumental in helping Foster transition to the bigger stage.

“It’s been pretty easy [transitioning] to this meet since I have a lot of my friends from the here who have kind of made the rise with me – having Kieran here and being on [U.S. National Junior Team] trips with him has made things easier to rise up to this level,” said Foster.

The 4x100m free relays offered their expected thrills, as U.S. jockeyed back and forth with the lead in both the men's and women's events.

Both men’s and women’s team were seated second coming into finals. In prelims, Kate Douglass, Claire Curzan. Katharine Berkoff and Torri Huske presented a six-way battle between the Netherlands, USA, China, Sweden, Canada, Russia for the finals showdown. In finals, Douglass led off with an early start (52.3), followed by Curzan (52.2), then Berkoff (52.6), and finally Abbey Weitzeil anchored (51.1) and closing the gap, and tying with Canada for the gold medal victory with a 3:28.52. The tie is the first dead heat for gold in the event in competition history.

“It was fun,” said Weitzeil. “I think, going in, we were unsure what the relays held and we just have, obviously, a strong reputation to uphold as Team USA so we are excited to come out with a gold.” 

Bronze went to the men’s team, with Ryan Held smashing the lead with a 45.7 split, followed by Hunter Tapp (46.7), then Shane Casas (46.5), and anchored by veteran Zach Apple (46.3) earning a team third place finish, behind Russia and Italy.

The competition continues with prelims at 12:30 a.m. ET, while finals will resume tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. ET. For more information on the event, visit https://www.fina.org/competitions/2/15th-fina-world-swimming-championships-25m-2021.