Australia’s Cameron McEvoy wins the men’s 50-meter freestyle, while Kaylee McKeown completes a backstroke double.
At his home games in Paris, Leon Marchand won the men’s 200-meter individual medley in an Olympic record time, fulfilling what French fans may consider to be his destiny.
Marchand, encouraged by an ecstatic audience at La Defense Arena on Friday, took charge of the second backstroke leg, extended his lead in the breaststroke, and then swam to victory in 1 minute, 54.06 seconds, which was just 0.06 seconds short of Ryan Lochte’s 13-year record.
More than a second behind Marchand, Duncan Scott of Britain took silver, and Wang Shun, the reigning champion of China, took bronze.
Marchand became the first French athlete to win four gold medals in swimming individually at a single Summer Games, surpassing American swimmers Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz by just three points.
The 22-year-old took first place in the 400-meter individual medley on Sunday and went on to win the 200-meter breaststroke and 200-meter butterfly in two amazing hours on Wednesday.
At their home games, the high expectations might have been too much for other swimmers, but Marchand only absorbed them and lived up to his moniker, “the French Michael Phelps.”
‘He runs France now’
From terraces crowded with national flags, a jubilant French President Emmanuel Macron raised his fist in the air in celebration.
Marchand told reporters, “I really have to enjoy it, because it’s my last individual final.”
“I felt better and more at ease because I had a lot more energy than I did yesterday.
“And it was really important to me to have fun in my last final, and it did.”
The entire stadium cheered as the 22-year-old Toulouse native mounted the podium and sang the Marseillaise, just like he had done three times previously.
“It seems like Leon’s name is now in the national anthem, which is pretty cool,” remarked Scott, who increased his record-breaking British haul of Olympic medals to eight.
Even though Phelps’ performance was quite amazing, he never did it in his native country, which is why he’s now emerging as a kind of international superstar. He currently sort of rules France.
Kaylee McKeown completes backstroke double – again
Just prior to Marchand entering the water, Kaylee McKeown of Australia successfully defended her 200-meter title, setting an Olympic record of 2 minutes, 03.73 seconds, ahead of Regan Smith of the United States and Kylie Masse of Canada (2:05.57).
McKeown acknowledged that she could never have imagined winning the Olympic backstroke double—twice.
The 23-year-old accomplished the extraordinary feat after winning the 100-meter gold medal to complement her exploits from the Tokyo Olympics. The modest swimmer won four gold medals from four different events during two Olympics.
No swimmer from Australia, male or female, had ever won both the 100- and 200-meter backstroke events in back-to-back Olympics.
When asked in Paris if she had ever imagined achieving such a feat, she responded, “Not in a million years.”
“As a child, I always looked up to my sister Taylor and Emily Seebohm because of what they accomplished in sports,” the woman remarked.
McEvoy pips Proud to 50-metre freestyle gold
In the men’s 50-meter freestyle, McKewon’s native Cameron McEvoy defeated Ben Proud of Britain to take home the gold.
McEvoy won in 21.25 seconds, followed by Proud in second place with a time of 0.05 seconds and Florent Manaudou of France in third place with a time of 0.05 seconds.
For Manaudou, it was his fourth consecutive game with a medal in the shortest freestyle categories.
McEvoy, 30, captured two bronze medals in relay competitions in Rio and a third in Tokyo before winning his first gold at an Olympic Games.
After Tokyo, the Queenslander made the decision to completely focus on the 50-meter freestyle, drastically altering his training regimen to best prepare for the thrilling competition.
