Summer McIntosh capped a brilliant world championships with the 400 meters individual medley (IM) title and a fourth individual gold medal, while the United States set a world record in the women’s 4×100 medley relay to win the final title in Singapore on Sunday.
France’s Leon Marchand roared to victory in the men’s 400 meters IM, while the United States topped the medals table with nine golds, one more than Australia.
France finished third with Canada fourth, all four of their golds won by 18-year-old McIntosh, who missed out on becoming only the third swimmer to win five individual medals at a world championships, joining Michael Phelps (2007) and Sarah Sjostrom (2019).
McIntosh blitzed the field in the 400 IM with a time of 4:25.78, the world record-holder coming home more than seven seconds ahead of joint silver medallists Jenna Forrester of Australia and Japan’s Mio Narita.
China’s 12-year-old prodigy Yu Zidi finished just off the podium again having also come fourth in the 200 IM and 200 butterfly.
Olympic champion McIntosh’s third 400 IM world title added to her 200 IM, 200 butterfly and 400 freestyle golds at the World Aquatics Championships Arena in Singapore, with only the 800 freestyle won by the great Katie Ledecky eluding her.
The United States’ frustrating championships ended on a high note with a record in the women’s 4×100 medley relay in the last event of the eight-day championships. The Americans swam a time of 3 minutes, 49.34 seconds, breaking their own old record mark of 3:49.63.
The Americans battled a case of “acute gastroenteritis” picked up at a training camp in Thailand. The malady clearly affected the team’s up-and-down performances in the eight days in Singapore. The Americans had only five gold medals through six days, but won four in the last two as team health seemed to improve.
“This is the best way to end the meet,” Gretchen Walsh said. “And I feel like we have such a good opportunity when you have this stacked group of women closing it out on a relay like this.
“We’re going to put it all in the pool and we’re going to leave Singapore with a smile on our faces,” she added.
Regan Smith, Kate Douglass and Walsh swam the first three legs with Torri Huske taking the anchor.
Marchand, dubbed the “French Phelps”, nearly missed the 400 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 Olympics runner-up behind Marchand.
It was a stripped-back program from Paris where Marchand won four individual titles but he made it count with the 200 IM world record on the way to the title earlier in the week.
Two years after Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui won the 800 and 1,500 freestyle at the Fukuoka championships, compatriot Ahmed Jaouadi completed the double by winning the 1,500 in 14:34.41 ahead of German Sven Schwarz and American Olympic champion Bobby Finke.
Jaouadi shaved nearly nine seconds off his personal best and said it was a struggle.
“I wasn’t the only one. My body was in a lot of pain,” he added. “But through my mind is that I want this medal and I want to win it.“
The big names may dominate the headlines but Australian relay stalwart Meg Harris grabbed the spotlight for herself as she won 50 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 have racked up medals in Singapore under a neutral flag.
Russians were allowed to compete on condition they have not publicly supported the invasion of Ukraine and have no affiliation to the Russian military.
Russian Kliment Kolesnikov stormed to the men’s 50 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.
