TOKYO: United States swimmer Caeleb Dressel won his fourth gold medal with a victory in the 50-metre freestyle on Sunday to secure his place as one of the biggest stars of the Tokyo Olympics.
Dressel cruised to a relatively easy win in the frenetic dash from one end of the pool to the other, touching in an Olympic record of 21.07 seconds. Dressel swept the 50 and 100 freestyle races, to along with a world-record triumph in the 100 butterfly and a leg on the winning U.S. team in the 4×100 free relay. He still had one more chance to make it five medals on the final day of swimming at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
A few minutes after Dressel climbed from the pool, Australia’s Emma McKeon completed her own freestyle sweep. She touched in 23.81 seconds to take the women’s 50 free, adding to her victory in the 100 and her sixth medal overall at these games.
In keeping with the theme of the day, Bobby Finke pulled off his own sweep in the two longest freestyle races. With another strong finishing kick, Finke became the first American man in 37 years to win the 1,500 freestyle. He added to his victory in the 800 free, a new men’s event at these games.
In the men’s 50, France’s Florent Manaudou finished behind Dressel to repeat as the Olympic silver medalist in 21.55, while Brazil’s Bruno Fratus claimed the bronze in 21.57 — edging American Michael Andrew for the final spot on the podium.
Dressel had one more event — the 4×100 medley relay, a race the United States has never lost at the Olympics. He was swimming the butterfly leg in a race that caps nine days of swimming competition at a 15,000-seat that, sadly, was largely empty throughout the meet.
If Dressel claims a fifth victory, he would join Americans Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz and Matt Biondi, as well as East Germany’s Kristin Otto, as the only swimmers to win as many as five golds at a single Olympics. Phelps did it three times.
McKeon also has a shot at history after winning with an Olympic-record time of 23.81. The silver went to Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström in 24.07, while defending Olympic champion Pernille Blume of Denmark settled for bronze this time in 24.21.
American Abbey Weitzeil finished last in the eight-woman field. McKeon has a chance to earn her seventh medal in the 4×100 medley relay. No female swimmer has ever captured that many at a single games.
Just as he did in winning the 800 freestyle, Finke stayed close throughout the 30-lap race and turned on the speed at the end. He touched in 14 minutes, 39.65 seconds.
Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk took the silver in 14:40.66, while the bronze went to Germany’s Florian Wellbrock in 14:40.91. Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri faded to fourth in 14:45.01.
Finke has been perhaps the biggest American surprise at the pool. Relatively unknown before the US trials, he became the first American male to win the grueling event since Mike O’Brien at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
