American gold medalists, from left, Regan Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske stand with their gold medals on the podium after the women's 4-by-100-meter medley relay at the Summer Olympics in Nanterre, France, on Aug. 4, 2024. (AP file photo)

SINGAPORE — The United States, which had a frustrating swim world championships, ended on a high note Sunday with a world record in the women’s 4-by-100 medley relay in the last event of the eight-day championships.

The Americans swam a time of 3 minutes, 49.34 seconds, breaking their own old mark of 3:49.63 set a year ago in the Paris Olympics.

The United States finished with nine gold medals and 29 overall, ahead of Australia with eight gold and 20 overall. France and Canada were next in the gold-medal count with four gold medals. The 18-year-old Canadian star Summer McIntosh won all four golds.

The Americans battled a case of “acute gastroenteritis” picked up at a training camp in Thailand. The malady clearly affected the team’s up-and-down performances in Singapore.

“This is the best way to end the meet,” Gretchen Walsh said. “And I feel like we have such a good opportunity when you have this stacked group of women closing it out on a relay like this.

“We’re going to leave Singapore with a smile on our faces,” she added.

Regan Smith, Kate Douglass and Walsh swam the first three legs with Torri Huske taking the anchor.

The Americans had only five gold medals through six days, but won four in the last two as team health clearly improved.

Finke defends

American Bobby Finke, the Paris Olympic champion at 1,500 meters, took a bronze in that event on Sunday. But he also had a message for critics back home.

They included former American swimmers Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte in a critical social media post.

Three-time Olympic gold-medalist Rowdy Gaines called for changes at USA Swimming, in an interview with The Associated Press. The governing body has been without a CEO for a year.

“I’m proud of the USA team and what we’ve been able to accomplish despite all the people back at home saying whatever they want to say,” Finke said. “But you know, I’m proud of these boys. If someone’s angry, my DMs are open.”

“Do whatever you want,” he added. “But you know, I’m proud of the team and what we’ve been able to do here. It’s a big stepping point for the 2028 LA Olympics.”

Sunday’s closing day featured eight finals and victories for seven different teams.

But there were two clear stars throughout the week.

Leon Marchand of France left the worlds on Sunday with what he came for – two individual gold medals.

McIntosh came away with four individual golds – one shy of her quest to win five. Still, she is only the second woman at a world championships to win four individual golds.

Her only blip was finishing third to American Katie Ledecky in the 800 freestyle on Saturday.

And 12-year-old Chinese Yu Zidi, in an astounding performance, finished fourth in all three of her individual races. She, however, did pick up a bronze medal in a relay, where she swam in the prelims but not in the final. She swam the 200 fly, and both IM races.

Sunday results

Meg Harris of Australia took the women’s 50 free (24.02). Harris was also the silver medalist in the same event in the Paris Olympics. China claimed the next two places with Wu Qingfeng (24.26) taking silver and bronze for Cheng Yujie (24.28).

Marchand won the 400 IM but didn’t break his own world record. Marchand won in 4:04.73, just off the world mark he set two years ago in Fukuoka, Japan (4:02.50). Tomoyuki Matsushita of Japan took silver (4:08.32) with bronze for Ilia Borodin of the Neutral Athletes (4:09.16).

Marchand, earlier in the championships, shattered the 200 IM mark in 1:52.69. The old mark was 1:54.00 set 14 years ago by Lochte.

McIntosh picked up her fourth gold medal, winning the 400 IM in 4:25.78. It was just off her world record of 4:23.65 set in June. Jenna Forrester of Australia and Mio Narita of Japan tied for silver (4:33.26).

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