The USA dominated the night, picking up five gold medals and two new world records out of the eight finals on offer. 

For Australia, it was Atherton's first World Championship final, where she able to grab a podium spot alongside Brit Georgia Davies in the 100m backstroke in a time of 56.74.

“I am super excited that I got to give it a crack in the final and came away with the bronze," she said.

“I just wanted to go out there and have some fun and give it my best shot and see what happened."

Grammar teammate Emily Seebohm was also in the final and finished sixth.

Carla Buchanan swam a 53.82 to put her through to the semi-finals of the women’s 100m freestyle but finished seventh in her final to place 15th overall.

Atherton and Buchanan was also part of the women's 4x50m medley relay team alongside Jess Hansen and Holly Barratt to qualify for the final. However, they missed out on a medal coming home in fifth.

Hansen came home sixth in the final of the women’s 50m breaststroke in a repeat of her heat and semi-final time of 30.20.

The mixed 4x50m freestyle relay comprising of Cam McEvoy, Cam Jones, Seebohm and Barratt finished second in their heat to qualify third fastest for the final. 

They placed sixth in the final in a time of 1:30.09 with the US quartet breaking a world record set by the Netherlands in 2017.