The United States set two world records on the final night of swimming at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, winning the gold-medal count over rival Australia and easing the sting of the first loss ever in the men’s 4×100-meter medley relay. Bobby Finke set a new standard in the 1,500 freestyle and the American women closed a thrilling nine days at La Defense Arena with another record in their 4×100 medley relay.
Lilly King made up for a disappointing showing in her individual events by powering the Americans to the lead on the breaststroke segment. Then it was Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske, two of the biggest U.S. stars at these games, bringing it home in 3 minutes, 49.63 seconds to break the record of 3:50.40 set by the U.S. at the 2019 world championships.
Regan Smith led off in the backstroke leg, earning a relay gold for the second night in a row after starting her Olympic career with five silvers and a bronze. Australia, the defending Olympic champion, took the silver this time in 3:53.11. The bronze went to China in 3:53.23. Four world records were set during the meet, three of them by the Americans.
The United States finished with eight gold medals to edge out rival Australia, which won seven events. Still, it was the lowest victory total for the U.S. team since the 1988 Seoul Games, when they were beaten by a doping-tainted East German program.
The Americans finished with 28 total medals at these Games, two shy of their total three years ago in Tokyo.
Historic loss for the Americans
China stunningly won the gold in the men’s 4×100 medley relay, ending the American run of dominance that stretched back to the introduction of the event at the 1960 Rome Games.
The only time the U.S. didn’t win gold was in 1980, when it boycotted the Moscow Games. The winning team included Qin Haiyang and Sun Jiajun, who were both among the nearly two dozen swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance at the Tokyo Games but were allowed to compete. The result is sure to stir more hard feelings from other nations that feel the Chinese got away with cheating.
But the real star of the Chinese team was Pan Zhanle, who had previously set a world record while winning the 100 free and powered away from American Hunter Armstrong on the anchor leg to touch in 3 minutes, 27.46 seconds. The Americans had to settle for silver in 3:28.01, with France taking bronze in 3:28.38 to give Léon Marchand his fifth medal of the games to go along with four individual golds.
Finke’s world recordFinke was under record pace the entire race and really turned it on coming to the finish. He touched in 14 minutes, 30.67 seconds to break the record of 14.31.02 set by China’s Sun Yang at the 2012 London Games.
The silver went to Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri in 14.34.55, while race favorite Daniel Wiffen of Ireland couldn’t follow up his triumph in the 800 freestyle. He was never a factor and settled for the bronze in 14:39.63, barely holding off Hungary’s David Betlehem for the final spot on the podium.
Swedish gold in the women’s 50 free
Sarah Sjöström of Sweden claimed her second gold medal of the Paris Olympics, furiously dashing from one end of the pool to the other to easily claim the 50-meter freestyle title on the final night of swimming Sunday. The 30-year-old Sjöström, competing in her fifth Summer Games, had already won the 100 free — an event in which she holds the world record but only decided to swim at the urging of her coach.
She was more surprised than anyone with that victory, which had her overflowing with confidence heading into the 50 free.
Sjöström touched in 23.71 seconds, just shy of the world record of 23.61 she set at the 2023 world championships in Fukuoka, Japan. In a race that’s usually decided by a hundredths of a second, the Swedish star turned this into a relative blowout. She was fastest off the block and clearly in control by the midway point of the single lap.
Meg Harris of Australia took the silver in 23.97, while the bronze went to China’s Zhang Yufei in 24.20. For Zhang, another of the swimmers implicated in a Chinese doping scandal, it was her fourth bronze of the games to go with a silver.
Walsh, in her first swim of a busy night, just missed out on a medal in 24.21.
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