Marchand wins 400m medley, McIntosh grabs her fourth gold

SINGAPORE: Leon Marchand and Summer McIntosh sealed their golden swimming world championships with rampant victories on Sunday’s final day of competition as the United States signed off with a relay record.

Marchand, who had won four golds at Paris Olympics, touched the wall in 4min 04.73sec, more than three seconds ahead of Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita (4:08.32), with Russian Ilia Borodin (4:09.16) third.

On the other hand, Summer McIntosh led from start to finish to win her fourth gold at the Singapore world championships on Sunday with a dominant victory in the 400m individual medley.

The 18-year-old Canadian phenomenon romped to victory in a championships-record 4min 25.78sec, with Australia’s Jenna Forrester and Japan’s Mio Narita sharing silver (4:33.26).

China’s 12-year-old Yu Zidi was narrowly out of the medals in fourth in 4:33.76.

IM WORLD RECORD

The French superstar put his rivals on notice by smashing the 200m IM world record and winning gold in the event earlier this week in Singapore.

He started the 400m IM final in lane one after a below-par performance in the morning heats, which saw him qualify seventh fastest.

But business was back to normal in the final as the 23-year-old took an early lead before moving further and further away from his rivals as the race progressed.

Marchand broke Michael Phelps’s 400m IM world record two years ago in Japan but his time in Singapore was more than two seconds outside his best mark.

RED-HOT FAVOURITE

World record-holder McIntosh was red-hot favourite beforehand and she was never in trouble as she added to her Singapore triumphs in the 200m medley, 200m butterfly and 400m freestyle.

McIntosh’s only defeat of the championships came on Saturday when she finished third in the 800m freestyle, with Katie Ledecky dominating that event once more.

McIntosh won three golds, including in both individual medley events, at the Paris Olympics a year ago.

She came to Singapore in superb form, having broken three world records in a matter of days in the Canadian trials, including in the 400 medley (4:23.65).

Along with McIntosh, Yu has been one of the names of the competition.

Huge cheers went up for her from the large number of Chinese fans as she entered the arena for the final on Sunday, the last day of competition.

Yu this week became the youngest swimmer in history to win a world championships medal with bronze in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay.

She came fourth in all three of her individual races.

But not everyone thinks Yu should be competing in Singapore.

Some in the sport have raised questions about the mental and physical impacts of high-level training and competing at an age when she is still developing as a person.

Under current World Aquatics rules, the minimum age is 14 but younger swimmers can compete at the championships if — like Yu — they are fast enough.

AHMED JAOUADI

Tunisia’s Ahmed Jaouadi added the 1,500m freestyle world title to his 800m crown, with two-time Olympic champion Bobby Finke only third.

Jaouadi won a thriller to grab gold in 14min 34.41sec, ahead of Germany’s Sven Schwarz (14:35.69) and the American world record holder Finke (14:36.60).

WOMEN’S 4x100m MEDLEY RELAY

The US team were battling acute gastroenteritis all week and faced criticism from Olympic greats Michael Phelps and Lochte.

But they silenced the doubters by breaking their own world record in winning the women’s 4x100m medley relay.

The Americans were victorious in 3:49.34, beating their previous record of 3:49.63 from Paris a year ago. Earlier, they also set a mixed 4x100m freestyle world record on Saturday.

MEDAL TABLE

As far as the medal table is concerned, the US ended a turbulent week top of the pile with nine golds, ahead of Australia with eight and France and Canada on four — all by McIntosh.

Australia’s Meg Harris beamed from ear to ear after joining compatriot Cam McEvoy as a 50m freestyle champion.