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7NEWS
6 minutes ago
- 7NEWS
Australia's Mollie O'Callaghan pipped by Dutch swimmer Marrit Steenbergen in women's 100m freestyle final
Backstroke star Kaylee McKeown and freestyle sprinter Cameron McEvoy will lead the charge as Australia attempt to claw their way back above the US at the swimming world championships in Singapore. A silver and bronze medal on Friday night dropped Australia (five gold, two silver, six bronze) into second spot on the medal tally behind the US (five gold, 10 silver, five bronze). Mollie O'Callaghan started as the hot favourite in the women's 100m freestyle final, but her late charge wasn't enough to beat Dutchwoman Marrit Steenbergen, who prevailed by 0.12 of a second. It means O'Callaghan's bid to surpass Ian Thorpe's Australian record of 11 world championship gold medals will have to wait for another day. 'Look, I'm tired,' O'Callaghan said after the race. 'Like, I'm not gonna lie, last night was a big night. None of those girls did what I did last night. 'I'm happy to walk away with a medal. 'Honestly, I would always love to win. But honestly, to get on the podium after such a s***-show of a year, I'm pretty happy. 'It just shows the strength that I have and the block I can do in the future knowing that I've barely done any training for this.' The only other medal for Australia on Friday night was a bronze to the men's 4x200m freestyle relay team of Flynn Southam, Charlie Hawke, Kai Taylor and Maximillian Giuliani. The quartet entered their final as big underdogs, but they came within a whisker of nabbing silver. Great Britain won gold in a time of 6:59.84, with China (7:00.91) just edging Australia (7:00.98). While day six didn't result in a gold rush for Australia, things could be different on Saturday night. McKeown is a two-time Olympic champion in both the 100m and 200m backstroke. The 24-year-old won the 100m world championship backstroke final ahead of arch rival Regan Smith on Wednesday. And McKeown will have the chance to add the 200m crown to her name on Saturday night when she goes up against the likes of Smith, Xuwei Peng, Anastasiya Shkurdai and Claire Curzan in the final. McEvoy qualified fastest with a time of 21.30 seconds for the men's 50m freestyle final, and the Olympic champion is hoping to come up trumps on Saturday night. 'I can't complain, it's only 0.05 off what I did to win Paris,' McEvoy said of his Friday night semi-final swim. 'It's good, but the job's not done. I've got one more tomorrow. 'I need to let the finals atmosphere kind of lift me up a bit. Don't think about the end time. Don't go down that rabbit hole. Let the body speak for itself and see where I end up.' Australians Alexandria Perkins and Lily Price both qualified for the women's 50m butterfly final, while Matt Temple qualified sixth fastest for the men's 100m butterfly final. During the daytime heats on Saturday, Isaac Cooper will feature in the men's 50m backstroke, Meg Harris and Olivia Wunsch are in the women's 50m freestyle, while Sam Short will be hoping to overcome illness to compete in the men's 1500m freestyle. O'Callaghan said tiredness from a busy schedule meant she wasn't at her best in Friday night's 100m freestyle final. Thorpe is sure it's just a matter of time before the 21-year-old surpasses his record mark of 11 world championship gold medals - possibly even in Saturday night's 4x100m mixed freestyle relay final. 'I'm certain and I can't wait to see Mollie surpass that,' Thorpe told the Nine Network. 'What she has the opportunity to do is create her own legacy in swimming, which will continue to inspire people in future generations … leading into the Brisbane Olympics in 2032.'
7NEWS
36 minutes ago
- 7NEWS
Cupra "pushing really hard" for connected services in Australia
Cupra Australia says it's 'pushing really hard' with its Spanish global parent to bring factory-backed connected services Down Under, in direct response to customer feedback. Speaking with CarExpert, head of product for Cupra Australia – Jeff Shafer – said the lack of connected services in the brand's vehicles locally is something his team is directly looking to address soon. 'Yeah, we're definitely looking to go with a factory-backed solution – it's a really hot topic,' Mr Shafer said. 'We feed back a lot of the local market needs [to global] and what we hear from customers. It's an issue that exists at a Group level, not just a Cupra level, but we're pushing really hard. I don't have timing I can share right now, but things are moving in a positive direction.' CarExpert can save you thousands on a new car. Click here to get a great deal. The Volkswagen Group in Australia has been unable to implement a factory-backed connected services feature set, something that has also impacted the specification of its products – particularly, its range of electric vehicles (EVs) based on the dedicated MEB architecture. While online navigation and live traffic updates are potentially features that most Australian buyers could live without, the lack of proper app functionality like most EV rivals – including to check charge status and toggle remote features like cabin pre-conditioning and the like – stands out in a market where this is becoming increasingly common. Moreso, the MEB platform requires a connected services module for certain features which are currently left out of Australian models, like inbuilt satellite navigation and emergency call functions, which also tie to functionality in other available features like head-up displays, as well as over-the-air software updates. In the case of the Cupra Born, it also missed out on the Group's clever Travel Assist semi-autonomous highway mode as a result too, as it offers connected functionality. Earlier this year, Volkswagen Australia's passenger and commercial divisions rolled out a third-party solution in lieu of proprietary services, in the form of Goconnect. Via the Goconnect phone app, owners can view their parking position, visualise the vehicle's most recent trips, interact and book appointments with their dealer, view important errors and warnings, see the high-voltage battery status, and see the driving speed. At the launch of the ID. Buzz electric van range, Volkswagen Group Australia director of commercial vehicles, Ryan Davies, said: 'Australia is currently one of those [markets] we don't have a true picture of when the connectivity that's available in Europe will make its way into Australia'. Audi Australia, while also under the VW Group banner locally, has long offered its own connected solutions via the Audi connect plus feature which offers a range of online features and remote functions. However, the MEB-based Q4 e-tron misses out on these features, at least initially, due to the embedded connected module in the platform. While premium brands and Tesla have had forms of connected services and app functionality for some time, mainstream manufacturers have made strides in this space of late, as have many new Chinese challenger brands. Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda and Toyota all offer connected services and app-based remote functions, as do the likes of BYD and MG. All offer complimentary subscriptions with purchase, though length and available functionality can vary depending on the brand and subscription type. Not all of a brand's models are always compatible, either.
7NEWS
36 minutes ago
- 7NEWS
Australia's road toll hits 15-year high
New figures showing Australia's road toll reached a 15-year high in the 12 months to June 2025 is more evidence that the National Road Safety Strategy has failed, according to the country's peak motoring body. The AAA's quarterly Benchmarking the Progress of the National Road Safety Strategy (2021-30) report shows that 1329 people have died on Australian roads in the year to June 30, and that no state or territory is on track to meet its target of halving fatalities by 2030. In fact, rather than reducing the road toll by 50 per cent, the strategy agreed to by all Australian governments in 2021 led to a 21.1 per cent increase in road fatalities over the following four years, with road deaths up 3.3 per cent in the year to June 2025, and at their highest level for any year-to-June period since 2010. CarExpert can save you thousands on a new car. Click here to get a great deal. 'Our National Road Safety Strategy is clearly not working as planned and governments cannot expect to get better results by pursuing the same failed approach,' said Michael Bradley, the managing director of the Australian Automobile Association (AAA), which represents the state-based motoring clubs and their 9.5 million members. At a time when many Australian states and territories are raking in record revenue from speed camera fines following routine increases in penalties, the AAA's most recent Benchmarking Report shows almost all states and territories posted an increase in road deaths in the past 12 months (except for South Australia and the Northern Territory). It shows there were 192 pedestrian deaths in the year to June – up 15 per cent from 167 in the 12 months to June 2024, when 38 cyclists died (up 11.8 per cent) and fatalities among motorcyclists fell by 5.4 per cent to 264. The Northern Territory had the highest rate of deaths per 100,000 residents, at 19.1, followed by Tasmania (8.3), Western Australia (6.1), Queensland (5.3), South Australia (4.4) NSW and Victoria (4.2) and the ACT (1.7). Source: Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics statistics The AAA's Benchmarking Report uses Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) figures to track the progress of Australian states and territories in meeting their respective targets for reducing road trauma. The organisation has long called on state and federal governments to publish the various road trauma data they collect, in order to 'de-politicise road funding and to enable evidence-based safety interventions'. In a press release this week, it commended the NSW Government for last weekend releasing the state's previously secret safety ratings of its road networks that have been assessed using the Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP). The data showed 71 per cent of NSW roads were rated three out of five stars under AusRAP's road assessment scheme. This scheme rates roads based on analysis of risk factors such as average daily traffic, speed limit, number of lanes in each direction, lane width, shoulder width, presence or absence of roadside barriers and rumble strips, gradient and curvature, quality of line markings, skid resistance, whether the road is single or dual carriageway, and provisions for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists. 'This national leadership is to be congratulated, and it will save lives by improving transparency, accountability, and by ensuring road investment dollars get spent where they are most needed,' said Mr Bradley. 'All Australian states and territories use AusRAP to rate the safety of their networks, and the AAA calls on all jurisdictions to follow the lead of the NSW Government and publish all ratings. 'The Commonwealth has in recent months begun playing a constructive role, by linking its funding of state roads with the provision of road safety crash data, however, it too needs to do more to publish and analyse the valuable information it is now collecting.'
