China's Ning Zetao was the shock winner of the men's 100m freestyle gold at the world swimming championships on Thursday as Australia's Cameron McEvoy had to settle for silver. Ning touched the wall in 47.84 seconds as McEvoy, who had been fastest in the heats and semi-finals, finished second at 0.11sec with Argentina's Federico earning bronze at 0.28. Olympic champion Nathan of the United States finished seventh at 0.47 back.
Ning said his first major title gives him the perfect motivation in training to attempt to win the title at the Rio de Janerio Olympic Games next year.
"So far I don't understand what is going on, I can't describe my feelings," said the 22-year-old. "Before the race, I didn't even think about a medal, I just wanted to show my best. I have had dreams about gold medals, but when I touched the wall I didn't realise I had it. I just touched the wall and I didn't know I had the gold until I saw the result. Just getting to the final was a big achievement.”
The lieutenant in the Chinese navy proudly saluted his country's flag during the medal ceremony and Ning said time he has spent training in Australia recently gave him confidence to attempt to win the world title. He has won his first world title having picked up gold in the 50m and 100m freestyle at last year's Asian Games.
McEvoy was delighted with his first individual medal at a world championships, having won a 4x100m freestyle relay silver in 2013. "It's exciting, it puts me in a good position to be in for the year to come," he said. "I can't be disappointed with the placing, it's the best I ever had, a world silver medal. Thinking back a couple of years ago it was out of reach for me so to be in this position now especially with a year to go, it's exciting."
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