By Alan Baldwin
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s Leon Marchand brought the host nation to a standstill once again on Friday with his fourth gold of the Paris Olympics, while Australian Kaylee McKeown wrote history of her own as the first woman to retain both backstroke titles.
Marchand did it in style, roared to the rafters by a rapturous crowd as he joined American greats Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz as the only male swimmers to have won four individual titles at a single Games.
Emphasising his status as the hottest property in the pool, the 22-year-old shattered the 200 metres Individual Medley Olympic record of one minute 54.23 seconds set by Phelps at the 2008 Beijing Games and replaced it with a new best of 1:54.06.
It is the fourth such record set by the poster boy of the Paris Games, who has taken the burden of expectation and shaped it into another source of strength, in as many finals in the La Defense Arena.
Around the city, and at other venues, crowds celebrated and burst into the national anthem.
At the Stade de France, scene of France’s momentous 1998 World Cup soccer triumph and venue for the track and field events, the decathlon 400m had to be delayed due to the noise from the stands.
Touching the wall well behind Marchand, Britain’s Duncan Scott took silver to stretch his record for a British swimmer to eight Olympic medals while China’s Wang Shun was left with the bronze.
Scott’s total of two relay golds and six silvers also took him beyond cyclist Chris Hoy as Scotland’s most medalled Olympic athlete.
With the crowd rippling in anticipation for Marchand’s appearance in the last of three finals on the bill, veteran compatriot Florent Manaudou warmed them up and tested the sound levels with a bronze in the 50 freestyle sprint.
That race was a reminder that swimming’s older generation remain a force to reckon with as 30-year-old Australian Cameron McEvoy took his first Olympic gold and 29-year-old Briton Ben Proud his first Olympic medal in second place.
In between the men’s races, the remarkable McKeown found her own space to shine.
The 23-year-old world record holder again overhauled hapless American challenger Regan Smith to claim the win in an Olympic record 2:03.73.
Smith, more than a half-second adrift, took her third silver of the Games, denied gold for a second time by the Australian who also beat her for the 100m title on day four.
Kylie Masse took bronze for Canada, her fifth Olympic medal, three years after earning silvers in both the 100 and 200m at Tokyo.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Additional reporting by Ian Ransom, Mitch Phillips, Rohith Nair and Vincent Daheron; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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