Egyptian swimmer Farida Osman won the bronze medal in the women's 50m butterfly final in Budapest on Saturday, achieving a 25.39s to claim Egypt's first-ever medal in the World Championships. Osman broke the African record for the third time in this event, topping her previous mark set at the semis by 0.25s. She missed the silver by 0.01s to Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands, while the gold was claimed by Sarah Sjoestroem of Sweden, who swam a 24.60s. This represents a breakthrough for the 22-year-old, who reached the finals in her favourite discipline for the third time in a row. Having finished seventh in the World Championship in Barcelona in 2013, Osman became the first-ever Egyptian swimmer to qualify for a final at any FINA World Championship. Two years later, she finished fifth in the 50m fly at the 2015 World Championship after clocking 25.78 seconds, an African record at the time. Osman had an outstanding competition, where she smashed five African records. She broke the record of the 50m fly three times, swimming a 25.74s in the heats. She then improved it in the semis, timing 25.73s before making a huge improvement in the final with 25.39s, quashing her old mark of 25.78s set in Kazan in 2015. On Saturday, she swam a 24.78s in the 50m freestyle heats, improving her previous record of 24.91 set at the Rio Olympics last year. That record lasted only for hours as she broke it again in the afternoon timing 24.62s in the semi finals but unfortunately she ended 9th to miss out on the final race. Osman also finished 17th in the 100m fly, timing 58.67s, missing the semis by 0.01s. She also competed in the 100m freestyle, finishing 25th in the prelims, timing 55.52s. The FINA World Championships – or World Aquatics Championships – is the main global competition for aquatic sports: swimming, diving, high-diving, open-water swimming, synchronised swimming, and water polo. The tournament runs from 14 to 30 July this year.
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