Sun Yang completed the hatrick of distance gold at the world championships in Barcleona, only the second man in the history of the sport to achieve a remarkable feat. Four hundred, eight hundred and then rounding it off with a win in the fifteen hundred metres this was the highlight as the 15th Fina championships came to a close.
The reigning world and Olympic Champion went into the pool knowing he had the chance of emulating the great Grant Hackett, who won the hat-trick of titles in Montreal in two thousand and five. Sun, in lane 4, alongside his biggest rival, Ryan Cochrane, in lane 5.
Sun would get off to a good start and took the early advantage. However, the 21-year-old was trailing at the 250 metre mark as the Canadian moved marginally into first place at the fifth turn.
The Chinese stayed in contention though on Cochrane’s shoulder. The pair racing almost side by side for 1 thousand four hundred meters but Sun always looked the more comfortable.
And as the race moved into the last two lengths and the final 100 meters that Sun made his move upping the pace and although Cochrane responded bravely, Sun moving clear in the last ten seconds, 20 meters before Sun began to pull away eventually and clocking a time of 14 minutes 41 point 15 seconds.
Sun joining Hackett in the history books. Cochrane repeated his second-place finishes at the last two world championships, Italian teenager Gregorio Paltrinieri was third. An excellent championships for China, with fourteen gold medals and especially sweet for Sun.
"I did not have much aerobic exercises before the event. So I couldn’t swim with all my forces in the first hundreds meters. I think Cochrane performed very well today and made me a lot of troubles during the race. But I have a faith in my heart and I told myself once and once again that I can’t give up. I kept going, although I felt really tired. After the 4 by 200 meters relay, my body got really sore. And I didn’t get much preparation today. I won the competition because of my will. The 1500 meter is the hardest in the four items. But I did it, and I am very happy." Sun Yang said.