Mollie O'Callaghan's staggering act as Aussies smash relay world record

Mollie O'Callaghan has overcome crippling cramps and pain to help Australia win gold and obliterate the 4x200m relay world record at the short course world swimming championships in Melbourne. The 18-year-old O'Callaghan was in tears in the cool-down area after winning silver in the 100m backstroke, and it was later revealed that she was in immense pain due to cramps.

However the teenage phenom overcame the pain to take her place in the 4x200m freestyle relay final, helping Australia claim the gold medal and smash the world record by nearly two seconds. Madi Wilson led the team out before handing over to O'Callaghan. Leah Neale then kept the Aussies in front before Lani Pallister secured the gold medal with the fastest split of the race.

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The Aussies finished in 7 minutes, 30.87 seconds, eclipsing the previous world record of 7:32.85 set in 2014 by the Dutch. The gold medal marked Pallister's third of the event after also winning the 400m and 800m freestyle.

The swimming world was left in awe of Pallister's feats, as well as the bravery shown by O'Callaghan just to take part in the relay. "She's injured. It's actually sad to see," Ian Thorpe said in commentary when O'Callaghan was battling her cramps.

"We really don't want to see this. And you know, the first thoughts have to go to the way that Mollie is feeling at the moment. The second thought is she's already been allocated to swim in the 4x200m relay tonight. We can't have her represented by another athlete. She's thinking, 'I've let people down'."

Australian relay coach Dean Boxall later said: "She got this huge cramp around her six-pack. So the physio had to come and try and get her [sorted] - she'd locked out big time. She couldn't move in the water for the swim down, so she was in tears, we had to try to help get her through.

"She committed to try to get out there for Australia. She was in a lot of strife, so she's amazing. What an amazing girl."

O'Callaghan said after the relay: "After racing sometimes I get very cramped and I can't really move and it all seizes up, so I had amazing support team getting me to all together, I had Dean supporting me, I had them running around, doing everything.

"I'm just very thankful for them to help me long the way and get me back up to race. At the end of the day, the race is not about me. It is about Australia. And the team. So I had to stand up and do it for the rest of the girls."

Aussie great Giaan Rooney said O'Callaghan produced "an extraordinary swim knowing what we know now". The world record performance was even more remarkable considering Emma McKeon opted to skip the event to focus on her individual program. On Tuesday night, McKeon starred as Australia broke the world record in the 4x100m relay.

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As for Pallister, the new Aussie golden girl said her three gold medals in three events was a dream come true. And she still has the 1500m freestyle ahead.

"It's the first time I've raced a 4x200m final so I really wanted to put my foot on the line and show the coaches who had faith in me I was able to do the job," Pallister told reporters. “I will probably never swim a 200m individually but to jump in and do a relay with these girls. It’s just insane.

"It's such an incredible opportunity to race on home soil and come away with a world record. I've been doing a lot of work around backing up so I had long enough between the 800 and the relay to be able to recover and put up a performance like I did tonight."

Meanwhile, Kaylee McKeown added another gold medal for Australia on Wednesday night after pipping O'Callaghan to win the 100m backstroke. The world record holder in the long course 100m backstroke, McKeown touched the wall in 55.49 seconds, with O'Callaghan taking silver with 55.62 and American Claire Curzan third.

"I had a rough turn on the third 25 and I had to give it everything because I had a bit of catching up to do," the 21-year-old McKeown said after producing a huge comeback to win. Teenager Isaac Cooper, who was banished from the Commonwealth Games team earlier this year for misusing prescription medication, won bronze in the men's 100m backstroke behind American Ryan Murphy.

with AAP

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