Australia’s successful World Aquatic Championship and Para World Championship medallists will share a whopping $1 million medal and world record bonus incentive payments thanks to the generosity of mining magnate Mrs Gina Rinehart AO,it was announced today.

The Patron’s Medal Achievement Incentive Fund powered by Hancock Prospecting, will commit to $3 million over two years (2023 and 2024) for its four funded sports in the lead up to and for the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Australia’s Swimming, Rowing, Volleyball and Artistic Swimming teams will be the major beneficiaries of what in some ways is a career-saving, ground breaking scheme.

It will provide performance-based payments for medallists at a World Championship, and Olympic or Paralympic Games.

And with the Dolphins dominant in Fukuoka, the new funding scheme will match the incentive bonuses already paid by World Aquatics – dollar for dollar – making it a massive win-win as swimmers around the world play catch up in the multi-million world of international professional sport.

The last of Michael Phelps’ world records was recently erased at the World Championships, as French star Leon Marchand blasted a 4:02.50 clocking in the 400-meter individual medley. The effort took down Phelps’ longstanding mark of 4:03.84, set on the opening day of competition at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The final was held on this date, Aug. 10, 15 years ago. Here’s a look at Phelps’ iconic performance.

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Would the stars align? Would his body hold up? Could he maintain his mental edge? Was he in peak form? These were a few of the questions that surrounded Michael Phelps as he headed to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, his sights targeting a haul of eight gold medals. The primary storyline inside the Water Cube was simple: Could Phelps surpass the iconic seven gold medals captured by American hero Mark Spitz at the 1972 Olympics in Munich?

If the goal seemed familiar, it made sense. Four years earlier, with Athens serving as host, Phelps first took on an eight-event schedule and attacked Spitz’s place in the sport’s history.

 

The World Masters Championships concluded from Kyushu, Japan, and it was the fastest meets in masters history.

There were 33 world records broken, tying the all-time record for most broken in one championship meet, set previously in Riccione, Italy, in 2012.

There were also 132 championship meet records, one of the highest totals in World Masters history.

Read more below for the complete list of world records.

Coming off a four-medal haul at the recent World Championships in Fukuoka, the United States’ Katie Ledecky topped voting in Swimming World’s recent poll that asked readers who they thought was the current best female swimmer in the world. Ledecky captured 36% of the vote, which was nearly twice the 19% registered by Australian Mollie O’Callaghan and Canadian Summer McIntosh.

Ledecky received her support after winning the 800-meter freestyle and 1500-meter freestyle at the World Championships, where she was also the silver medalist in the 400 freestyle and as a member of the American 800 freestyle relay. Ledecky’s dominance of the distance events presumably gave her the victory, as she won the 800 free by nearly five seconds and prevailed in the 1500 freestyle by more than 17 seconds.

When presenting the poll to its readership, Swimming World listed six athletes as nominees. The six athletes were the premier performers at the World Champs. Aussie Kaylee McKeown finished fourth, followed by countrywoman Ariarne Titmus and Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom.

It’s worth noting that Ledecky was the lone American on the list while three Australians were featured, and likely split the votes of their country.