Mireia Belmonte on top of the world after clinching gold
Mireia Belmonte beat Katinka Hosszú and Franziska Hentke to win the women's 200m butterfly title at the world championships on Thursday.
Mireia Belmonte finally added the only gold medal missing from her collection, winning the Women's 200m butterfly title at the world championships in Budapest on Thursday.
Belmonte completes honours list
Belmonte touched the wall in two minutes, 05.26 seconds with Germany's Franziska Hentke taking silver at 0.13 back and Hungary's Katinka Hosszu claiming bronze at 0.63.
Having won world silver at home in Barcelona four years ago, Belmonte has gone one better just one year after being crowned an Olympic champion in Rio.
'This is one of the best moments of my life”, she said. “I still can’t believe it. This golden medal was the only one which was missing from my collection. Rio was the best moment in my life, but this is an important moment. The key to win this final was the first 100 metres".
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It is the Spaniard's second medal in Budapest after she took silver in the 1500m freestyle on Tuesday - finishing 19 seconds behind gold-medallist and long-distance queen Katie Ledecky. However, the Badalona-born swimmer didn't have the best of starts to the day, as she explained: "I woke up this morning with a chill. I felt terrible and just wanted to stay in bed. So I didn't know how I was going to perform but it's all turned out well".
Hentke claims Germany's first medal
Hentke, the European champion in 2016, was stunned by her silver, the first major medal of her career and Germany’s first at the championships. She told reporters, “I don't know what to say, I am absolutely speechless and I am so happy. When I saw the line-up for the final I was sure that only Mireia, Katinka or me could take a medal, but I still can't believe it that I got the silver”.