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Kate Douglass Takes Silver in 200 Breast, 4th Medal at World Championships

UVA swimmer Kate Douglass swam in two finals on Friday, placing second in the 200 breaststroke and fourth in the 100-meter freestyle

Matt Newton

USA Swimming

Kate Douglass added two more remarkable finals performances to her already-impressive resume on Friday at the FINA World Aquatics Championships in Japan. The UVA swimmer placed fourth in the 100-meter freestyle and then earned her fourth medal of the week, taking silver in the 200-meter breaststroke as Douglass continued to represent both Team USA and the University of Virginia with excellence on the international stage. 

It was already a striking feat that Douglass made the finals of two events on the same night, as that required her to post qualifying times in the semifinals of both events on the previous night. Douglass did that with an outstanding double on Thursday night and then she repeated that effort on Friday, nearly notching a couple of podium finishes. 

In the 100-meter freestyle, Douglass finished strong on the second 50 to pass Olympic champion Emma McKeon, out-touching the Australian by just two-hundredths of a second to secure fourth place. Her time of 52.81 was just one-tenth of a second off the podium. Australia's Mollie O'Callaghan took gold in 52.16, followed by Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey and Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands. 

Any concerns that Douglass didn't have enough in the tank to swim competitively in her second final of the night were set aside as she turned in a time of 2:21.23 to take second place in the 200 breaststroke, only trailing South Africa's Tatjana Schoenmaker, who won the title with a time of 2:20.80. It was a come-from-behind effort for Douglass, who swam the fastest closing 50 of the field (36.40) in order to pass Tes Schouten, beating the Dutch swimmer by four-tenths of a second to secure the silver medal. 

Douglass now has four medals to her name at this week's World Championships, as she adds the silver in the 200-meter breaststroke to her bronze in the mixed 4x100 medley relay, silver in the 4x100 freestyle relay, and gold in the 200 individual medley. 

Former Cavalier Leah Smith also earned a medal on Friday, as she swam the leadoff leg of Team USA's 4x200-meter freestyle relay in the prelims and the Americans went on to win silver in the event. 

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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