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The final day of the World Aquatics Championships showcased swimming’s biggest stars, with France’s Leon Marchand and Canada’s Summer McIntosh reaffirming their status as the sport’s leading lights by clinching the meet’s best swimmer accolades.
Following Saturday’s “race of the century” in the 800m freestyle was always going to be a tall order.
Ledecky reminded the world of her ‘GOAT’ status and enduring longevity as she bagged her 30th world championship medal in the event, rewriting the championship record in the process. Aussie Lani Pallister squeezed herself into second with a last-lap surge as McIntosh faded to a disappointing third.
But the Canadian joined Marchand in giving fans a night to remember on Sunday with a dominant showing in the 400 individual medleys.
In the men’s event, “Marchand-mania” swept the venue as spectators rose to their feet to cheer the Frenchman. He returned the favour with a peerless showing in the pool, touching the wall in 4:04.73 almost four seconds quicker than his closest competitor, Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita. The 23-year-old also took silver in the 4x100m medley relay with teammates Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, Maxime Grousset and Yann Le Goff, finishing just behind the Neutral Athletes B quartet, who set a championship record of 3:26.93.
“Physically, it was really tough. I felt heavy in the water, especially at the bottom without fins. But I kept going and gave everything I had, because I really wanted to connect with my body. Afterwards, it was hard to recover in just 30 minutes. But given what was at stake, I was determined to perform well in the relay with the team. In the end, I recovered well. I came out of it okay. Actually, I even feel kind of lifted by the whole experience,” Marchand said.
“The relay is always intense, especially a 4×100 medley like that. We were in lane one, but we knew we had a shot. And tonight I swam with Max and Yann, guys I love. I gave it everything. I was totally wiped out, but emotionally, it’s always so much more intense than an individual race.”
Despite getting off the blocks last, McIntosh blitzed the field as she touched the wall in championship record time (4:25.78), more than seven seconds ahead of silver medallist Jenna Forrester. That gave the 18-year-old four individual golds from five events — just one shy of Michael Phelps’ all-time record at a single meet.
“I think it was very obvious that my goal was five golds. Time just didn’t matter. I just wanted to get my hand on the wall the first five times,” she said. “I fell short of that, but I think it’s just going to keep me hungry and push, and keep moving forward. Even if I were to get five golds, I would still want more. That’s just my mentality.”
“I think this meet, I learned more than any other meet ever. And that says a lot… And that’s going to keep me hungry moving into next season and into LA. All those little things I’m learning from, and I’m going to take notes on the plane on what I can keep improving on.”
The United States also ended a turbulent campaign on a high with a new world best of 3:49.34 in the 4×100 medley relay set by the quartet of Regan Smith, Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske.
“I think this is the best way to end the event, and I feel like we have such a good opportunity when you have this stacked group of women closing it out like this, like, we’re gonna put it all in the pool and we’re gonna leave Singapore with a smile on our face,” Walsh said.
The night also marked the final chapter of US breaststroke queen Lilly King’s competitive career. A six-time Olympic medallist, King placed sixth in her final race, the 50m breaststroke, with a time of 30.25. Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte claimed her fourth straight title (29.55s) in the event as the only swimmer to dip under 30 seconds.
“Just to share this experience in this pool with great people, and the girls. It was really cool to do it with Lilly in her last race today. Cheers to Lilly,” the Lithuanian said.
Nine years after her breakout 100m breaststroke Olympic gold in Rio, King said on her final swim, “I feel great… Excited to celebrate with my team after, and celebrate with my family after that.”
Meanwhile, world-record holder Kliment Kolesnikov set a championship record of 24.17 in the earlier 50m back final for his first long-course world title.
Chinese fans hit fever pitch in the women’s 50m freestyle, roaring their approval when Wu Qingfeng and Cheng Yujie finished two hundredths apart to take silver and bronze. Australia’s Meg Harris took top spot with a 24.02 for her first individual title of the meet.
Tunisian Ahmed Jaouadi turned in a remarkable long-course world championship debut and placed himself in strong contention to inherit the ‘distance king’ moniker when he hit a sixth-fastest swim of all-time in the 1500m freestyle, four days after winning 800m freestyle gold.
He is only the fifth man to do the distance double at the same meet, joining the likes of compatriot Ahmed Hafnaoui, Irishman Daniel Wiffen, Australia’s Grant Hackett and China’s Sun Yang.
“I knew that everyone was struggling and feeling the pain. I wasn’t the only one. My body was in a lot of pain. But in my mind, I wanted this medal and I wanted to win it,” Jaouadi said. “It was hard for every one of us, for the three of us, me, Bobby (Finke) and Sven (Schwarz) to compete. I think it came down to the one who wanted the gold medal more to win, and I won.”
The long-course world championships will make its way back to the Hungarian capital of Budapest in the next edition, where it was last held in 2022.
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