Budapest 2024, Day 4: Isabel Gose Golden; Jillian Cox Gets Bronze from Morning Heat in 1,500
The 1,500 freestyle is a marathon in the pool, but it was nothing compared to the wait for Jillian Cox Friday in Budapest.
Isabel Gose came in with the fastest time in the final of the women’s 1500 free at the World Short-Course Championships, but Cox’s patience paid off with her time from the morning beating all but two in the fastest heat at night to get bronze.
Gose clocked in at 15:24.69 to secure gold, nearly five and a half seconds up on Simona Quadarella of Italy. But Cox’s time of 15:41.29 from the morning — despite her miscounting and finishing to her feet instead of her hands — slotted into the canyon between the finish of Quadarella and France’s Anastasiia Kirpichnikova for the 19-year-old American to grab a bronze medal.
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“That was the most stressful 10 minutes of my life,” Cox said. “I’ve never been so anxious, I was shaking, but it was a lot of fun actually. It is possible to medal from those morning swims, just give it all you have, don’t count yourself out. This morning I had an unexpected event, I miscounted the mile and did a flip turn instead of a hand touch, so I wasn’t really focused on the medal, more thinking I can fix that next time.”
The gold adds to a great year for Gose. The 22-year-old from Berlin medaled in the three longest races at the long-course World Championships – silver in the 800, bronze in the 400 and 1,500 – then took home her first Olympic medal with bronze in the 1,500 free in Paris. She finished second to Australia’s Lani Pallister, the reigning champion and meet-record holder, in the 800 free earlier in the meet.
“It has not sunk in yet,” Gose said. “It was such a hard race, and I felt the whole week after the finish. But I am so happy with this result and with this whole week – did not think it would go this well before the start of the event. I am really proud that I can finish off this year like this.”
Quadarella, who didn’t medal in Paris, adds a third career Short-Course medals to go with eight in long-course Worlds. Kirpichnikova, the French silver medalist in Paris in the 1,500, clocked in at 15:43.33 for fourth.
“I was really happy with the medal and the time,” Quadarella said. “I had a really difficult period, I tried to focus on my race and did my best.”
It’s a massive PB for Cox, who went 16:09.72 at the last World Championships in Melbourne in 2022. She was eighth then.
Tiana Kritzinger finished fifth in 15:44.44. She edged her fellow Australia, Moesha Johnson, by six tenths. Johnson had been in the morning heat. The other American, Kate Hurst, finished 11th in 15:55.11, likewise from the morning heat.
