Scott Bregman

Tatjana Smith is coming out of retirement – and the South African swimming star is doing it with a brand-new event. Two years after walking away from the pool at what seemed to be the peak of her career, South Africa's most decorated Olympian is back in training with the LA 28 Olympic Games in mind. Smith retired immediately following Paris 2024, where her 100m breaststroke title made her the only South African to win gold at those Games.

Triple Olympic swimming champion Tom Dean and his relay teammates needed to beat six hours 52 minutes. They got there in six hours, 55 minutes. The margin – three minutes over 33 kilometres of open water – was all that stood between the British relay and a 36-year-old English Channel world record on Tuesday (22 September). Dean's team did, however, lower the British record, taking 22 minutes off the seven hours and 17 minutes achieved by a Dover Lifeguard Club team in 1981.

Klaudia Kazimierska had spent the whole season coming up just short. But in Budapest on Saturday (12 September), the Polish athletics star finally ran to victory. Kazimierska won the women's 1500 metres at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in 3:57.55, holding off Paris 2024 Olympic 800m bronze medallist Georgia Hunter Bell (3:57.72). Nikki Hiltz of the United States was third in 3:58.16.