A year ago in Paris, Ahmed Jaouadi made the Olympic finals in the 800m and 1500m freestyle. He was 19 and the clock read 7:42.82 (7:42.07 heats) over the shorter distance and 14:43.25 over the longest race in the pool.

Fast-forward a year, pun intended, and the 20-year-old will leave Singapore with two World titles, two huge personal bests, targets on his back en route to LA2028 and a deal more scrutiny shadowing him along the way.

Here's where he's arrived his past week, the 1500m final win in the precisely the way he claims the 800m crown: cat, mouse, pounce, claw and gnaw at the very pride of the powerhouses of world distance swimming:

Jaouadi is the third Tunisian to claim the title, after Oussama Mellouli and Ahmed Hafnaoui (2023), who is currently serving a 21-month competition ban due to expire in January 2026 for an anti-doping rule violation after missing three tests in a 12-month period.

We'll see where the whole story goes next but there's a lot to ponder in the depths of the various strands of stories from Tunisia, including a tale of latest progress, the turn of pace the new champion found when he needed it and the freshness he appears to finishes races with.

In victory, Jaouadi lifted Tunisia to number 3 on the all-time medals table adrift Australia and Italy, leapfrogging Germany, the Soviet Union (Vladimir Salnikov) and China (Sun Yang*).