Alabama's Zane Waddell Strikes Gold at the FINA World Championships
7/28/2019 5:21:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
The South Africa native won the 50-meter backstroke on the final day of the 2019 FINA World Championships, held in South Korea
GWANGIU, South Korea – The University of Alabama's Zane Waddell won the 2019 FINA World Championships title in the 50-meter backstroke on Sunday at The Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center in Gwangju, South Korea.
Waddell, a native of Bloemfontein, South Africa, clocked a 24.43 to edge world record holder Evgeny Rylov (24.49) of Russia by six-hundredths of a second.
"The night really came together," Waddell said. "The warmup went really well. A lot of emotion at the end of that race. There is nothing I can describe: it has always been a dream of mine to be a world champion and it's amazing to finally realize that dream and go out and achieve it. I knew it was going to be the closest race of my life. I have huge respect for the other seven competitors out there and it's just an amazing spirit to have got my hand first to the wall."
The World Championships continue an amazing year for Waddell, who won the 100 backstroke at the Southeastern Conference Championships and led off Alabama's SEC and NCAA champion 200 medley relays with blistering 50-backstroke efforts. He also won the 50-meter backstroke at the World University Games earlier this month with a time of 24.48 after setting the WUG record at 24.46 in the semifinals.
The rising Crimson Tide senior was joined on the World Championships podium by three-time NCAA champion and Alabama alum Kristian Gkolomeev, who earned a silver medal in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 21.45.
Rising sophomore Kalia Antoniou, along with alumni Anton McKee, Abbas Qali and Christopher Reid also competed at the 2019 World Championships.
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