As painful as it was, Emily Seebohm says lessons learned from her London Olympic breakdown helped her seal a drought breaking 100m backstroke gold for a resurgent Australia at the world swimming championships in Russia.
Seebohm ended an eight-year wait by claiming the title on her fifth attempt before Mitch Larkin quickly added another 100m backstroke gold to a booming Australian medal tally in Kazan on day three.
Rookie Madison Wilson also claimed 100m backstroke silver to mark the Australian team's best night's haul at a world titles since Montreal 2005.
Nearing the halfway mark of the eight-day titles, Australia have three gold - already equalling their number of wins at the 2013 world championships.
At London, Seebohm mirrored her "toxic" team's fortunes when she left the pool in tears after suffering a shock 100m backstroke loss.
She later blamed a fixation with social media for losing her focus after clocking an Olympic record in the heats.
Seebohm only cried tears of joy when she was joined on the podium by Wilson on Tuesday night.
However, her thoughts were still not far from her London debacle - and how much she had grown since.
"I have worked really hard on dealing with the pressure of being in lane four (favourite)," she said.
"I went in there tonight, I laughed, I had fun with the girls.
"That's what I forgot to do in London, not take it too seriously."
Seebohm was so relaxed on Tuesday night she admitted she was singing a country song in her head in the final's first 50m.
Still, Seebohm would have again had no shortage of excuses if she had bombed out at Kazan.
Her coach Matt Brown departed only weeks following the selection trials and she dislocated her knee in a freak horse riding accident in May.
But her relaxed approach finally proved a winning formula, snapping what seemed an endless wait for individual world titles gold since her 2007 debut.
"I feel like someone should slap me because this does not feel real," Seebohm beamed.
"It's taken me five times to get here. I won't be sleeping tonight."
Seebohm (58.26 seconds, 0.03 outside her PB at London) clocked a time that would have also claimed gold at the 2013 worlds and the 2012 Olympics.
Those titles were won by Missy Franklin but Seebohm's American nemesis had no answer on Tuesday night, finishing a distant fifth after a poor start.
Not everything went Australia's way with third fastest qualifier Cameron McEvoy bombing in the 200m freestyle final, finishing last as 19-year-old Briton James Guy took gold.
And Jess Ashwood broke her own Australian record (15 minutes, 52.17 seconds) by four seconds but could still only manage fifth in the 1500m freestyle final behind Katie Ledecky.
The American marvel cut her own world record by more than three seconds (15:25.48).
Share
