Foster, Elendt highlight Longhorn performances at World Aquatics Championships
July 7, 2022
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the July 6, 2022 flipbook.
The Texas Longhorns were well represented at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships. From June 17-July 3, Texas swimming and diving athletes took part in the event held in Budapest, Hungary.
Three Longhorn men represented the United States team and together brought home medals in five events. Sophomore Coby Carrozza, senior Drew Kibler and sophomore Carson Foster won gold in the men’s 4×200 freestyle relay with a time of 7:00.24. Carrozza swam in the heat, but was replaced by Florida’s Kieran Smith in the final.
Foster and Kibler also competed in individual events. On June 18, Foster won silver in the men’s 400 medley with a time of 4:06.56, just two seconds behind France’s Léon Marchand, who set the championship and European record in the event. Four days later, Foster took silver in the men’s 200 medley, this time just half a second behind Marchand.
This was Foster’s first time attending a long-course world championship event, having attended the short-course world championship event last year in Abu Dhabi, where he helped Team USA win the 4×200 freestyle relay.
Kibler came in fourth place in the men’s 200 freestyle, and also swam in the mixed 4×100 freestyle, where he placed third with the American team with a time of 3:21.09. This was also Kibler’s first time attending the World Aquatics Championships, coming one year after taking fourth place in the 4×200 freestyle relay at the Tokyo Olympics. Earlier this year, Kibler, along with senior Daniel Krueger, junior Caspar Corbeau and graduate student Cameron Auchinachie, set the American record for 4×200 freestyle relay at the 2022 NCAA Championships while competing for Texas.
Representing Germany and the Texas women’s team was sophomore Anna Elendt, who competed in the women’s 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke. In the 200, she failed to advance past the heat, and in the 50, she came in fifth. The race for the 100 breaststroke was incredibly close, with just one-tenth of a second separating the top three finishers. Elendt finished second, just half a tenth behind Italy’s Benedetta Pilato.
This was Elendt’s second world championship event, having previously competed in the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. Earlier this year, she set German national records in the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke.
The United States won the event with 49 total medals, 18 of them gold, while Germany finished in ninth place with 10 medals.
