Check out some of the stats behind Léon Marchand’s triumph in the 200m individual medley. (0:48)
NANTERRE, France — Léon Marchand completed his dominating run through the Paris Olympics, winning his fourth swimming gold with another runaway victory in the 200-meter individual medley Friday.
The 22-year-old French star left no doubt he’ll be remembered as one of the biggest stars of the Summer Games in his home country. He touched in an Olympic record of 1 minute, 54.06 seconds, just short of Ryan Lochte’s 13-year-old world mark.
That was about the only thing he didn’t accomplish at La Defense Arena, where he had previously won the 400 IM, 200 butterfly and 200 backstroke — the latter two about two hours apart in the same night.
McEvoy wins 50 free gold
Cameron McEvoy won gold in the men’s 50-meter freestyle Friday night, denying Caeleb Dressel a repeat in swimming’s most frantic event.
McEvoy became the first Australian man to win gold at these Games. With McKeown’s gold, the country has a leading seven swimming golds overall.
McEvoy made it from end of the pool to the other in 21.25 seconds, edging out Benjamin Proud of Britain by five-hundredths of a second.
Florent Manaudou of France thrilled the home crowd by capturing the bronze in 21.56. Dressel, who won five gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, finished sixth in 21.61.
McKeown wins women’s 200m backstroke
Australia’s Kaylee McKeown, 23, cemented her place among the greats of Olympic swimming as she became the first woman to retain both of the backstroke titles with gold in the 200m event.
The world record-holder once again overhauled American challenger Regan Smith in a battle royale to claim the win in an Olympic record 2:03.73 at La Defense Arena.
Smith took silver, 0.53 seconds behind her Australian nemesis.
Kylie Masse took bronze for Canada.
McKeown, who retained her 100m title on Day 4 in Paris, is now Australia’s first Olympian to win four gold medals in individual events as opposed to team ones, taking her past a parade of iconic names like Dawn Fraser, Ian Thorpe and Betty Cuthbert.
Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.