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Marchand, McIntosh rampant as US end turbulent worlds with record / Photo: © AFP
Marchand, McIntosh rampant as US end turbulent worlds with record
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.
Eight days of competition in Singapore wrapped up in style with French superstar Marchand and 18-year-old Canadian sensation McIntosh underlining their dominance.
Marchand, who won four golds and was the face of his home Paris Olympics a year ago, added the 400m individual medley crown to his 200m medley title this week.
The 23-year-old arrived in Singapore with a lighter programme in an effort to smash Ryan Lochte's 2011 200m IM world record -- and he did just that.
Marchand on Sunday cruised to victory in the 400IM, powering to 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.
Not to be outdone, McIntosh was similarly emphatic in winning the women's 400IM for her fourth gold in Singapore, to go with triumphs in the 200m medley, 200m butterfly and 400m freestyle.
The world record holder led from start to finish to romp to victory in a championships-record 4:25.78, with Australia's Jenna Forrester and Japan's Mio Narita sharing silver (4:33.26).
McIntosh's only defeat of the championships came on Saturday when she finished third in the 800m freestyle, with the American Katie Ledecky dominating that event once more to underline her enduring quality aged 28.
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. They also set a mixed 4x100m freestyle world record on Saturday.
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.
- Dream gold -
Australia's Meg Harris beamed from ear to ear after joining compatriot Cam McEvoy as a 50m freestyle champion.
A day after McEvoy won the men's sprint, Paris Olympics silver medallist Harris powered home in 24.02sec to beat Chinese pair Wu Qingfeng (24.26) and Cheng Yujie (24.28).
Harris said becoming an individual world champion was "the dream I have been dreaming of the whole time".
"This is why I swim," said the 23-year-old.
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).
There was a Russian victory in the men's 50m backstroke, with world record holder Kliment Kolesnikov dominating for gold in a championships-record 23.68sec.
Fellow Russian Pavel Samusenko and South Africa's Pieter Coetze shared silver, 0.49sec behind.
Russian swimmers are competing as neutrals because of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Lithuania's Ruta Meilutyte sealed a career fourth women's 50m breaststroke world crown.
The Russians won the men's 4x100m medley relay from France and the United States.
N. Lebedew--BTZ
