US swimmers set two world records on final night of Olympic swimming

NANTERRE, France (AP) — 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 4x100-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 4x100 medley relay.

Finke was under world-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.

Finke set the third swimming world record of these Olympics and provided a much-needed jolt for the mighty American team, which leads the overall medal count but had endured a series of disappointing results from some of its biggest swimmers.

Finke’s gold was the seventh for the U.S., pulling them into a tie with Australia for the top spot in that column with only the 4x100 medley relays remaining.

The Americans have never lost the men’s medley at the Olympics, and they were expected to battle defending Olympic champion Australia for the gold on the women’s side in a gold-medal race that went right down to the wire.

Fellow American 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 game, 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, finally earning her first career gold.

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, one of the swimmers implicated in a Chinese doping scandal, it was her fourth bronze of the games to go with a silver.

Gretchen Walsh of the United States just missed out on her fourth medal of the games, touching fourth in 24.21.