The name Luca Urlando has been mentioned as a promise for a long time, so good was he in his youth, so enduring the challenge of his transition to senior waters, and yet, this day, perseverance partied: at 23, he nailed his first world title.

I was a go-to-gold triumph, pace-setter to peak of podium in 1min 51.87, Poland's Krzysztof Chmielewski taking silver in 1:52.64 after turning the 6th of six men within 0.6sec of each other at half-way. The clock marked his second national record in two days, after a 1:52.89 in heats.

Bronze was bagged by an Aussie who scraped into the final in 8 and then became the latest outside smoker to make the podium this week, his 1:54.17 a national record that locked out Canada's Olympic bronze medallist Ilya Kharun by 0.17sec. China's Chen Juner had set his own national mark in semis, on 1:54.02, but could nor replicate that in the showdown:

There's understandable reference to Urlando's tremendous 1:51.87 on the clock, executed beautifully and confidently, having put the new World champion in the club of three men who have sub-1:52 efforts to their names: Michael Phelps and two other Olympic champions Kristof Milak and Léon Marchand.

The full file is now part of the SOS Archive...