In her first international final, Strauch made a steady start to be fourth at the halfway mark before a strong third lap put her alongside American race leader Kate Douglass.

In an enthralling final 50m, Strauch and American Lilly King went to the finish line together, with King claiming her ninth world championship gold medal in 2:22.41- just 0.63 of a second ahead of Strauch.

Douglass finished third - 0.16 of a second behind Strauch.

"It's a dream come true really,'' an elated Strauch said.

" I was just hoping to make the final and get all the experience I could so to walk away having stood on the podium has exceeded all my expectations.

"I've spent a lot of years rebuilding and only really been back in form these last few years so to stand here today is probably something I never expected would happen.

"I'm only going to grow as an athlete now and use this to hopefully move further up on the podium."

Strauch's silver was Australia's first medal in a women's breaststroke event at the World Championships since Leisel Jones in 2011.

Strauch, 25, was ninth in this event at last year's Tokyo Olympics, but has taken her swimming to another level in 2022..

She swam a career-best time to win her semi-final and was centimetres away from gold in the final.

Jenna's parents Dean and Jane watched on from Bendigo proudly.

"Jenna's plan centred around two years time (Paris Olympics) and her plan for the worlds was to make a final,'' Dean Strauch said.

"She'd made semis before and she wanted to go the next step by making a final.

"To achieve a podium finish is just unbelievable. On the big stage in the semi-final she a did a personal best by close to a second to put herself in the middle lane for the final.

"That gave her the best chance in the fial and she did it. It's a credit to her.

"With all the hard work she's put in, she deserves everything that comes her way.

"From our point of view we get a lot of pleasure to see Jenna achieveing her dream.

"To be on the poium at world championships level... there's a lot of satisfaction there.

"She face timed us this morning and said it was so cool to be on that podium."

Strauch still has two more events to swim in Budapest - the 50m breaststroke and the 4 x 100m medley relay.

"She'll do the 50m breaststroke and the medley relay tAustralia will be pretty strong,'' dean Strauch said.

"Hopefully, she'll be up there again somewhere."

Her brilliant form augurs well for next month's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

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