Swimming: Leon Marchand becomes national hero with fourth gold
Leon Marchand, the standout performer at this year's Olympics held at the Defense Arena in Paris, dominated the competition by securing his fourth gold medal in the 200m freestyle final. Marchand surpassed Michael Phelps' previous Olympic record with an impressive time of 1:54.06, breaking the formidable record set by Phelps at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
Marchand's victory in the 400m freestyle in 1 minute 54.06 seconds was the second quickest ever and set a new Olympic record. This win adds to his previous gold medals in the 200m butterfly, 200m breaststroke, and 400m individual medley. Adding the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke titles on the same night was a remarkable achievement for Marchand, who had already claimed the opening 400m freestyle title.
In the final on Friday, Duncan Scott from Britain won the silver medal with a time of 1:55.31, while Shun Wang from China took the bronze with a time of 1:56.00. Wang, who was the previous champion, was in the lead after the first butterfly leg.
Australia had a great night with Kaylee McKeown winning first place in the 200 backstroke, beating Regan Smith from Team USA and Kylie Masse from Canada. McKeown also set a new Olympic Record during the race.
McKeown once again won the 200m event in the Olympics with a new record time of 2min 03.73sec. She finished ahead of American swimmer Regan Smith (2:04.26) and Canada's Kylie Masse (2:05.57). This victory added to her previous win in the 100m event in Paris. It was an impressive accomplishment as no Australian swimmer had ever won both the 100m and 200m backstroke events in consecutive Olympics before.
In the Paris Olympics on Friday, Australian swimmer Cameron McEvoy claimed the gold medal in the 50m freestyle event, bringing home another medal for his nation.
Australian swimmer Cameron McEvoy won his first Olympic gold medal in the 2023 world championships event. He finished with a time of 21.25 seconds, beating out Great Britain's Benjamin Proud (21.30) and France's Florent Manaudou (21.56). This marks Manaudou's fourth consecutive Olympic Games where he has medaled in the shortest freestyle race. Manaudou took home gold in London 2012, silver in Rio 2016, and now bronze in Tokyo 2020.
McEvoy took part in three Summer Olympics from 2012 to 2020. He earned a total of three medals during this time. At Rio 2016, he won two bronze medals in the 4 × 100m freestyle and 4 × 100m freestyle events. In Tokyo 2020, he also won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100m freestyle event.
