2024 Olympics swimming: Bobby Finke, women's medley relay set world records as men falter on historic day

The United States wrapped up the swimming competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics in spectacular style Sunday setting two world records while winning three medals in the pool. Bobby Finke laid down a world record in the men's 1,500-meter freestyle as he defended his gold medal from the 2020 Summer Games before the women's 4x100-meter medley relay team followed by setting another new standard in the final race of the Olymipcs.

The two victories and three medals allowed the Americans to pull ahead of rival Australia in the perpetual chase for the most Olympic wins. The relay triumph broke a gold-medal tie with the United States topping the Aussies 8-7.

Finke, a 24-year-old from Florida whose two gold medals in 2021 during the Tokyo Olympics surprised some, took the lead on the first lap of 30 in the 1500 meters; he never relinquished the advantage ultimately finishing in 14:30.67 beat silver medalist Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy by more than 3 full seconds. The prior record of 14:31.02 had stood since 2012.

Finke's time was nearly 9 seconds faster than his winning time in the event at the 2020 Games in Tokyo, where he also won the men's 800 meters. More importantly, though, it continued a string of history for U.S. swimming that dated back more than a century.

Before Finke entered the pool, the United States had not won a men's individual swimming gold medal in Paris, a feat it had achieved in every Olympics (other than the boycotted 1980 Moscow Games) since 1904. The 1500 meters was the final such race of these Olympics, and Finke single-handedly ensured that record will extend to 124 years with the Americans expected to stretch it further in four years at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The men's 4x100-meter medley relay was next in the pool. Despite an excellent butterfly leg by Caeleb Dressel, it took second to China setting some not-so-praiseworthy history of its own. This race marked the first time in the history of the relay, which dates back to 1960, that the Americans did not win the gold medal during an event in which they participated. The U.S. instead brought home silver, the first such medal of Dressel's career to go along with his nine golds.

The blisteringly fast American women soothed some of the disappointment in the final race of the afternoon. The U.S. was already on record pace as opening swimmer Regan Smith finished her backstroke leg with a sizable lead over Australia and Canada. She was followed by Emily King on the breaststroke and Gretchen Walsh on the butterfly before Torri Huske closed with a blistering ast freestyle to finish in 3:49.63, which edged the prior world record of 3:50.40 that had stood since 2019. Australia took second and China third.

Huske leaves Paris with five medals, including two golds and a silver on three relays plus an individual gold in the 100-meter butterfly and another silver in the 100-meter freestyle.