Kasia Wasick is one of the fastest women in the pool and she showed her incredible speed again at the World Short Course Championships in Melbourne, claiming the silver medal in the 50 m freestyle. “What a race! I’m really happy to get a medal at World Champs this year. I’m so proud,” Wasick said.
Throughout the heats and semifinals, Wasick, who lives and trains in Las Vegas, said she was struggling with jet lag, but that didn’t stop her from qualifying as the top-seed with a time of 23.37. In the exciting final, Wasick didn’t get off to her typical start and hit the 25 m wall 0.2 seconds down. “When I dove in, I crossed my arms and I knew I made a mistake. I tried to stay calm and grab as much water as possible. It was really stressful but I’m so proud how I stayed calm,” she says. “It was really tough mentally. I didn’t feel good but I tried to make the best out of it. I’m extremely happy with the silver.”
The World Championship silver medal was the cherry on top of a career-best season. Wasick, who retired with a shoulder injury after Rio in 2016, made a comeback to qualify for her fourth Olympic team and race in Tokyo. Not only did she qualify, but she finished with a personal best result of 5th and has gone on to swim faster than she ever has. Since then she has competed in the ISL, medalled at European and World Championship events, broken Polish records, and become the third fastest woman in history for the short course 50 m freestyle, putting her within striking distance of the world record.
“I’m just reflecting on the whole year and it was definitely the best year in my career. Coming back from retirement, I just wanted to make the Olympic Games again. I would never think I would be winning medals and competing with the best athletes in the world and this is really special,” Wasick says. “I really cherish every moment and I wish this moment could last foreverbecause it’s so fast, the emotions and everything. Sometimes everything happens so fast we forget to be happy. But I’m really thankful for the entire year because it was my best year. It showed that me and my coaches are doing a lot of good work and it pays off.”
With her new silver medal, Wasick says she is finished competing for the season and will spend Christmas with her family. “Then it’s back to training,” she says. “I’m excited for next year. If this year was so good, next year can be only better because my goals are big and I’m trying to do everything to achieve them."
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