McKeown delivers more Aussie gold

Wiffen makes history in women’s 100m backstroke

PARIS:

Kaylee McKeown won back-to-back gold in the women’s 100m backstroke while Daniel Wiffen made history as he became the first Irishman to win a swimming gold as he swept to victory in the 800m freestyle at the Paris Games on Tuesday.

There was also joy for Great Britain’s men who defended their 4x200m freestyle relay gold with a convincing victory.

Australia’s women continued their domination over their American rivals in La Defense Arena with McKeown beating world record holder Regan Smith in one of the most highly anticipated duels of the Games.

After Ariarne Titmus beat Katie Ledecky in the 400m freestyle ‘Race of the Century’ on the opening night and Mollie O’Callaghan won the 200m freestyle and the Dolphins combined for gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay, this was another show of strength.

“It’s been an awesome few days watching all the Aussies get up and race so I just had to put my best foot forward tonight,” said McKeown, who now owns four Olympic golds and will aim for another in the 200m backstroke.

“To have all this atmosphere all that adrenaline and be able to perform like that it’s really special to me and I’m happy with have gone so far,” she said

She is now one of only two women, along with American Natalie Coughlin, to have won two golds in this event.

Smith, coached by Bob Bowman, Michael Phelps’s former coach who is also working with French sensation Leon Marchand, had raised hopes last month of a gold by smashing the world record time, set by McKeown, in the US trials.

At the 50-metre mark, Smith was in the lead with McKeown trailing in fourth but, not for the first time, the Australian turned on the turbo power for the last 30m to win with an Olympic record time of 57.33sec with Smith 0.33sec behind.