Aussies on top of world sport after Oscar Piastri dominates and swimming relay teams stun

Oscar Piastri and the country's men's and women's 4x100m swimming relay teams have produced a stunning night for Australia on the global stage. And it could get even better, with Alex de Minaur in the final of the Citi Open in Washington.

Piastri was triumphant in a rain-soaked Belgian Grand Prix, while Australia won gold in both relays at the swimming world championships. Piastri extended his lead in the F1 world championship to 16 points after overtaking pole-sitter and teammate Lando Norris to win.

Oscar Piastri (centre) won the Belgian Grand Prix, while Australia's relay teams (L and R) stunned at the swimming world championships. Image: Getty

The race eventually started after four laps behind the safety car following a delay of nearly an hour and a half due to rain and poor visibility at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. After an initial formation lap behind the safety car, a red flag was shown, and the cars were brought back into the pit lane and the starting procedure halted.

Once the race began, the decisive moment came just seconds after the start. Piastri charged through the spray and straight past his teammate Norris, using his slip-stream through the daunting Eau Rouge. Piastri was then largely untroubled for the rest of the race as he powered on to finish 3.415 seconds clear of his arch-rival.

Oscar Piastri won amid rain-soaked conditions. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

"I knew Lap 1 (after the safety car) would probably be my best chance of winning the race," the Aussie said after his sixth win of the season and eighth of his career. "I got a good exit out of Turn 1, lifted as little as I dared and yeah, we had it mostly under control."

It was McLaren's sixth 1-2 finish of the season, and third in a row. Charles Leclerc was a distant third for Ferrari, while Max Verstappen was fourth in his first full race under a new Red Bull chief following the departure of Christian Horner.

While Piastri's win wasn't a total shock, the performance of Australia's two 4x100m relay teams were. The Aussies ended the opening night of the swimming world championships with double gold after the country's men and women both prevailed in the 4x100m freestyle events.

Olivia Wunsch produced a stunning late comeback to fire Australia to an upset victory over the vaunted US in the women's event. And then it was Kyle Chalmers who reeled in a sizeable lead from the Americans in the men's event.

Chalmers produced a stunning anchor swim as the Aussie quartet including Flynn Southam, Kai Taylor and Maximillian Giuliani posting a world championship-record time of 3:08.97 to defeat Italy (3:09.58) and the fading US (3:09.64). "I've kind of lost my voice already from cheering so hard," Southam said. "I'm just so happy to be here, and we all swam out of our skin, and we did it for the country, and we're so proud of ourselves."

Australia's men's and women's 4x100m relay teams celebrate together with their gold medals. (Photo by MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP via Getty Images)

The Aussies were complete underdogs in the women's race with a new-look team of Mollie O'Callaghan, Meg Harris, Milla Jansen and Wunsch. The US were the hot favourites to win, but even without the retired Emma McKeon, the Australians produced something special.

Torri Huske had the lead for the US with 50m remaining, before Wunsch came storming home to snatch victory. Australia finished in a time of 3:30.60, with the US (3:31.04) in second.

"I definitely can't believe it," Jansen told Channel 9. "This is something that I wanted growing up. I was feeling very nervous coming into this, but it's just a dream come true."

Ian Thorpe said in commentary: "It is really difficult to be able to find someone to match our most successful Olympian we've ever seen - Emma McKeon. She's not there. Cate Campbell's not there. Bronte Campbell's not there.

"But what we do have in Australia is the consistency in this race, that it's tough to make this team. And what I'm most impressed with is ... how they could lift for the entire team in this race. Amazing stuff."

with AAP

This article originally appeared on Yahoo Sport Australia at https://au.news.yahoo.com/aussies-on-top-of-world-sport-after-oscar-piastri-dominates-and-swimming-relay-teams-stun-204903418.html

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