Australian star Mollie O’Callaghan and debutant Shayna Jack have been unable to reel in more Olympic medals after a thrilling 100m freestyle final won by Swedish veteran Sarah Sjostrom.
Sjostrom, who won bronze in the event in Rio 2016 and decided to enter here at the last minute, touched fourth at the 50m mark and raced into the lead in the final metres.
The 30-year-old was utterly beside herself to have won her second gold medal after a 100m butterfly triumph eight years ago.
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“We did not see that coming!” Giaan Rooney said on Nine.
O’Callaghan was down in seventh at halfway and left herself too much to do.
Despite swimming the fastest second split of the race the Aussie’s incredible sprinting talent was not enough to overcome early leaders Torri Huske and Siobhan Haughey, who held on for silver and bronze respectively.
Huske, 0.13 seconds behind Sjostrom, claimed silver from Haughey by 0.04 while O’Callaghan was just 0.01 off the medals.
“I expected a lot more. But at the end of the day you’ve got to suck it up and wait another four years,” O’Callaghan admitted.
O’Callaghan, having conquered Ariarne Titmus to win 200m gold, had been seeking to become the third woman to complete the 100-200 freestyle double at the same Olympics.
But the 20-year-old admitted suffering anxiety leading into the 100m final.
“I was really nervous heading into this, didn’t have a lot of sleep over the past few days,” O’Callaghan said.
“I tried really hard to manage myself and get up for this but I knew 100 free was going to be hard because it’s a lot about speed and that’s something I really lack in.
“I knew it was going to be at tough race … it’s 0.01 (of a second), if you stuff something up it costs you.”
Jack marked her Olympic debut with gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay alongside O’Callaghan and held high hopes of joining her compatriot on the podium for the solo event.
Instead, after a race in the mid-pack, she is content with just being here after a doping ban took her out of contention for Tokyo.
“I wanted to walk out, soak up the crowd and enjoy my family being in the stands,” Jack said.
“I tried to reflect but absorb the fact I’m here as an Olympian. A couple of years ago I never thought that would be possible.”
The day belonged to Sjostrom, a long-time rival of Australia’s Campbell sisters.
“I’ve been dreaming a few times that I would win. It’s almost like I’ve seen it somewhere before, that I’m going to win the 100 freestyle,” the Swede said.
“I mean, I came here for the 50 free. I never thought a 30-year-old woman would win (the 100).
“I haven’t really raced the 100 free that much. I did the 100 free for the first time in two years in Rome a few weeks ago. I haven’t been in this event. My reaction said it all. I was like ‘this is unbelievable’.”
Meanwhile, American Katie Ledecky went back-to-back in the 1500m freestyle to win a seventh individual Olympic gold medal and eighth overall.
It is her 12th Olympic medal of any colour, bringing her level with relay legend Jenny Thompson for the most by a US women’s swimmer.
Ledecky broke her own Olympic record when she touched the wall in 15:30.02.
France’s Anastasiya Kirpichnikova won silver in 15:40.35, eight tenths ahead of German bronze medallist Isabel Gose.
Australia’s Moesha Johnson finished sixth in 16:02.70.
Elsewhere in the pool, Australian pair Jenna Strauch and Ella Ramsay both missed the 200m breaststroke final.
Their respective times of 2:24.05 and 2:24.56 were only good enough for 10th and 12th.
Strauch, 0.51 seconds short of qualifying, suffered an eerily similar fate in Tokyo three years ago — there, she finished ninth fastest and was just 0.52 seconds shy.
