SINGAPORE -- Tears began streaming down Mollie O'Callaghan's cheeks as she hastily navigated through the media contingent anxiously waiting on the La Defense Arena pool deck. But unlike on opening night of the Paris Olympics, where O'Callaghan guided Australia to gold in the women's 100m freestyle relay and let her emotions take over, these weren't tears of elation.
Everything had pointed toward an O'Callaghan triumph in the women's 100m freestyle final. It was this event at the world championships in Budapest 24 months earlier where she had truly announced herself to the swimming world, storming to gold in a stacked field. A year later at the championships in Fukuoka she repeated the dose, shaving half a second off her time from Hungary to take hold of Olympic favouritism in the race. O'Callaghan's expectations only grew when she stunned compatriot Ariarne Titmus in an epic women's 200m freestyle final on night three in Paris to stake her claim as the best swimmer on the planet.
O'Callaghan didn't just fail to take gold in that 100m final, she sensationally missed out on a medal in her pet event -- albeit by just 0.01s -- as Swedish veteran and world record holder Sarah Sjöström shocked the field from lane seven to win a frantic two-lap dash from American Torri Huske and Hong Kong's Siobhán Haughey. For O'Callaghan, it was devastation. Her dream of becoming just the third woman in swimming history to complete the Olympic 100m, 200m freestyle double dashed in 52 seconds.
"I expected a lot more," a dejected O'Callaghan later told reporters. "I was really nervous heading into this, didn't have a lot of sleep over the past few days. I knew it was going to be a tough race ... if you stuff something up it costs you. At the end of the day, you've got to suck it up and wait another four years."
There have been many potential redemption stories on the agenda at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, but perhaps none bigger than O'Callaghan looking to once again take control of the women's two-lap sprint and prove her performance in Paris last summer was nothing more than a minor blip on what's otherwise a near flawless swimming resume.
In addition to her 200m freestyle triumph over Titmus at last year's Olympics, O'Callaghan also earned gold in both the 100m and 200m relays. Her Olympic gold medal tally now stands at five, tied with Australian icon Ian Thorpe and backstroke superstar Kaylee McKeown, and just one behind the nation's most decorated Olympian, Emma McKeon.
O'Callaghan is also an 11-time world champion, already tasting success in Singapore three times. She guided Australia to victory in the women's 100m freestyle relay on opening night, dominated the women's 200m freestyle final on night four, and last night collected another gold medal, anchoring Australia to glory in the women's 200m freestyle relay. A reminder, she only recently celebrated her 21st birthday.
In Friday evening's final, O'Callaghan will have to contend with Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands, the fastest qualifier through the semifinals (52.81s), albeit just 0.01s better than the Australian. Huske, who owns the best time in the world this year (52.43s), is also in contention for gold, though she has been suffering from illness this week in Singapore.
Crucially, Gretchen Walsh, the third-fastest over 100m this season (52.78s), will not feature in the race, having withdrawn from her heat swim on Thursday morning under Team USA's "broader race management plans".
O'Callaghan is capable of beating all of those times and has been building throughout the season. She took out this race at the Australian Trials six weeks ago with a time of 52.87s, then went 0.08s quicker in her relay lead-off swim on night one in Singapore.
Two years ago at the world championships in Fukuoka she posted a still-personal best 52.08s to win gold. Repeat that, or something similar, and her redemption arc will be well and truly complete.