Dressel equals Phelps with 7th gold In 2017 FINA World Championships

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By CGTN's Zhang Anji

American swimmer Caeleb Dressel dominated the final day of the World Aquatics Championships.

The 20-year-old joined swimming superstar Michael Phelps in the elite club with seven golds at swimming’s second-biggest competition after the Olympics.

"I'm not sure yet, last night it was kind of hard to get to sleep a little bit, so the moment you start thinking about it before the meet is over it's a bit hard to wrap your head around those things," Dressel said after the match. "But the meet is over, I'm very happy to be done. I'm not sure if it's sunk in yet or not, I never had this happening so I'm not sure."

Dressel was not the only swimmer make great strides Sunday.

Xu Jiayu swim the first lap for China, as his country reached the event's final for the first time on the world stage. But they fall behind in the second half of the relay, only to see the USA and the UK vie for first. The UK finish second, Russia third, while China took sixth.

CGTN's graphic

Caeleb Dressel had already won three individual golds and three relay titles this week. '98' is the amount of time it took for Dressel to win three gold medals on Saturday night. He won the men's 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly finals in quick succession, then helped the USA quartet in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay. No swimmer had ever won three golds in one session before at a world championships.

Time for a closer look at how China fared, and how it compares to the previous event two years ago.

CGTN's graphic

After 17 days of competition, China earned twelve golds, twelve silvers and six bronzes. Down slightly from the 2015 Kazan meet, where China earned 15 golds, 10 silvers and 10 bronzes.

Breaking it down even further, eight of the top place podium finishes came from the diving team, three from swimming pool, and one from the sychronized swimming team, as ten Chinese girls claimed the country's first ever gold in the discipline, winning the free-routine combo.

China’s team captain Sun Yang finished with golds in 200m and 400m freestyles, increased individual world title count to nine.

Xu Jiayu maked impression with 100m backstroke win. The Olympic silver medalist improves on performance from 2016 Rio Games.

Elsewhere, future looks bright for 15-year-old freestyler Li Bingjie as the Chinese teen earns silver in 800m and 4×200m relay, bronze in 400m.

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