Summer McIntosh capped a brilliant world championships with the 400m individual medley (IM) title and a fourth individual gold medal while Leon Marchand roared to victory in the men’s event in Singapore on Sunday.
The United States set a world record in the women’s 4x100m medley relay to claim the final title and ensure they topped the medals table with nine golds, one ahead of Australia.
France finished third with Canada fourth, all four of their golds won by 18-year-old McIntosh, only the third swimmer to win five individual medals at a world championships, joining Michael Phelps (2007) and Sarah Sjostrom (2019).
World record holder McIntosh blitzed the field in the 400m IM with a time of 4:25.78, more than seven seconds ahead of joint silver medallists Jenna Forrester of Australia and Japan’s Mio Narita.
The Olympic champion’s third 400m IM world title added to her 200 IM, 200 butterfly and 400 freestyle golds at the World Aquatics Championships Arena in Singapore, but she had to settle for bronze in the 800m freestyle, won by Katie Ledecky.
“I think it was very obvious that my goal was five golds,” she said. “Even if I were to get five golds, I would still want more. That’s just my mentality.”
China’s 12-year-old prodigy Yu Zidi finished just off the podium again in the 400m IM, capping a sparkling debut at a global meeting. She was also fourth in the 200m IM and 200m butterfly.
Olympic champion and world record holder Marchand nearly missed the 400m IM final after a slow heat in the morning but was back to his best in the evening, clocking 4:04.73 to finish well clear of Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita, the Paris Games runner-up.
Two years after Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui won the 800m and 1,500m freestyle at the Fukuoka championships, compatriot Ahmed Jaouadi completed the double by winning the 1,500m in 14:34.41 on the final day ahead of German runner-up Sven Schwarz and American Olympic champion Bobby Finke.
Jaouadi shaved nearly nine seconds off his personal best.
Australian relay stalwart Meg Harris grabbed the spotlight for herself when she won 50m freestyle gold in 24.02 ahead of Chinese duo Wu Qingfeng (24.26) and Cheng Yujie (24.28).
The 23-year-old Harris clinched her first individual title on the global stage after sharing two Olympic and five world relay golds in the last four years.
No Russian athletes competed at last year’s world championships in Doha but the nation’s swimmers racked up medals in Singapore under a neutral flag.
Russians were allowed to compete on condition they had not publicly supported the invasion of Ukraine or held any affiliation to the Russian military.
Russian Kliment Kolesnikov stormed to the men’s 50m backstroke title in 23.68, just 0.13 off his world record, while compatriot Pavel Samusenko took a silver along with South African Pieter Coetze, each finishing in 24.17.
Russian swimmers then combined to win a shock gold in the men’s 4×100 medley, giving the world record (3:26.78) a huge shake with a time of 3:26.93, a second clear of France.
With the U.S. men taking bronze it was up to the nation’s women to secure top spot on the medals table in the final event of the night by beating Australia.
They did just that and in some style, with Regan Smith, Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske combining to set a world record of 3:49.34, improving on the U.S. mark of 3:49.63 from the Paris Games.
Retiring American Lilly King, who won the 100m breaststroke at the Rio 2016 Games, bowed out fifth in her last individual event.
King’s teammates were proud of the U.S. performance at the event after several of the team’s swimmers suffered gastroenteritis from a pre-meeting camp in Thailand.
“I’d say Team USA always knows how to finish with a bang,” said Douglass. “It just sends a really positive message out to the viewers at home who didn’t really believe in us.”
World record holder Ruta Meilutyte earlier powered to the 50m breaststroke gold in 29.55, nearly half a second clear of China’s Tang Qianting.
It was the Lithuanian’s fourth successive world title in the event since returning from a two-year ban for anti-doping violations.
