AUSTIN (KXAN) — It was the last swimming event of the Paris Olympics, and with the U.S. tied with rival Australia with seven gold medals each, the Americans went out on top in emphatic fashion.
Regan Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske teamed to set a new world record in the 4×100-meter medley relay, giving the U.S. eight gold medals to Australia’s seven with a time of 3 minutes, 49.63 seconds. The Aussies finished with a silver medal in 3:53.11 and China won bronze in 3:53.23.
The U.S. led at every 50-meter interval while Australia, China and Canada battled to figure out the rest of the podium. Australia moved from off the podium in fourth to silver position in the final 50 meters behind Mollie O’Callaghan’s freestyle anchor leg.
Smith and King were on the relay team that set the previous world record in 2019. Kelsi Dahlia and Simone Manuel joined the pair to swim 3:50.40 at the 2019 World Championships in South Korea.
It was a big night for the U.S. in the pool with Bobby Finke claiming gold in the men’s 1,500, also in world-record fashion. Finke finished the longest race of the meet in 14:30.67, breaking a 12-year-old record set by China’s Sun Yang at the 2012 London Olympics.
Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri finished almost four seconds behind for silver at 14:34.55 while Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen claimed bronze in 14:39.63.
China won the men’s 4×100 medley relay with the U.S. winning silver and France bronze. Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom won the women’s 50-meter freestyle on the last night of indoor competition. The swimming program officially ends with the women’s and men’s 10K open water events Thursday and Friday.
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