Shock McKeown medal after late US DQ drama; Titmus in tears after ...

Australian superstar Kaylee McKeown has added a bronze medal to her Olympic tally, finishing third in the women’s 200m individual medley at Paris La Defense Arena after a dramatic disqualification on Sunday morning AEST.

The 23-year-old Queenslander, who was coming second at the 100m mark, touched the wall fourth with a time of 2:08.08 from the outside lane. However, the quintuple Olympic gold medallist was promoted to a podium finish after America’s Alex Walsh was belatedly disqualified for an illegal touch following the backstroke leg.

Canadian phenom Summer Mcintosh won gold with an Olympic record time of 2:06.56 while America’s Kate Dougless claimed silver. Australian teenager Ella Ramsay, the eighth-fastest qualifier, was forced to withdraw from the event after contracting Covid-19.

It was McKeown’s third Olympic medal at the Paris Games alongside her triumphs in the 100m and 200m backstroke events.

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Australia's Kaylee McKeown. Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFPSource: AFP

Soon after, fellow Australian champion Ariarne Titmus won silver in the women’s 800m freestyle final, with rival Katie Ledecky securing a gold medal for the United States.

Reigning champion Ledecky led the entire 16 laps, finishing in 8:11.04 to become the first women’s swimmer to win four consecutive Olympic gold medals in an individual event.

Titmus, who was right on Ledecky’s tail for about 600m before slipping away, set an Oceanian record and personal best time of 8:12.29, with America’s Paige Madden joining them on the podium.

Fellow Australian Lani Pallister finished sixth with a time of 8:21.09.

“I’m absolutely buggered,” Titmus told Channel 9.

“I’m so proud of my effort tonight. It’s my first PB of the week, I haven’t had a PB in the 800m since the last Olympics, so I’m stoked with that.

“I’m proud of the way I put myself out there and took it to Katie. She is just a champ and I have the most respect for her out of any athlete I’ve ever competed against. I know how hard it is to go back-to-back, and to be on top of the world in the same event for over 12 years is just remarkable.

“I feel so honoured to be a part of her story and hopefully it made her a better athlete as well.

“I knew at the end of eight days it would be tough, but I wanted to leave it all out there and go home from these Games with no regrets. I just don’t think I would be able to sleep at night if I second-guessed my approach to the race.”

Titmus, who earlier this week won gold in the women’s 200m freestyle final, started to well up while discussing the pressure she felt coming into the Paris Games.

“This is the first time I’ve really let my emotions out,” she continued.

“I felt so much pressure coming into these Games to hit my expectations, but I know a lot of people at home were willing and wanting me to win at these Games and defend my titles.

“I can finally relax. It’s been a big week.”

American Katie Ledecky is congratulated by Ariarne Titmus. Picture: Adam HeadSource: News Corp Australia

The Dolphins also clinched bronze in the mixed 4x100m medley relay, with the United States quartet of Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske setting a world record time of 3:37.43 in the final event of the evening.

It was neck-and-neck between the US and China heading into the last 100m, but America’s Torri Huske held her nerve to touch the wall 0.12s ahead of Chinese rival Yang Junxuan. The Australians finished 1.33s behind the Americans with an Oceanian record time of 3:38.76.

Earlier, Australia’s Matthew Temple finished seventh in the men’s 100m butterfly final with a time of 51.10s, 1.20s behind winner Kristof Milak from Hungary, while fellow Dolphins stars Shayna Jack and Meg Harris qualified for Monday’s 50m freestyle final.

Sweden’s Sarah Sjoestroem, who won the 100m freestyle event earlier this week, cemented her status as the favourite by setting an Olympic record of 23.66 during the second semi-final.

Heading into the final day of swimming action in Paris, Australia is one gold ahead of the United States on the medal tally.

DAY 8 HEATS WRAP

Things got off to a perfect start in the women’s 50m freestyle heats, with Shayna Jack and Meg Harris qualifying fourth and fifth fastest respectively for Sunday morning’s semi-finals.

Jack won her heat in 24.38s with China’s Yufei Zhang second with 24.54 and Sweden’s Michelle Coleman third with 24.55. Then Harris finished second in her heat in 24.50s behind Poland’s Katarzyna Wasick (24.27s).

The pair put themselves firmly in the medal contention come finals.

Swedish superstar Sarah Sjoestroem dominated her heat in a stunning 23.85s, half a second ahead of USA’s Gretchen Walsh (24.37s) to lay down a marker to the rest of the field.

Jack has already won two relay gold medals but is desperate for a first individual medal to crown a remarkable comeback from a two-year doping ban in 2019.

Australia's Shayna Jack was all smiles after a promising heats performance.Source: AFP

Australia’s Sam Short had a disappointing race in his heat of the men’s 1500m freestyle.

Short, who finished third in last year’s world championships, couldn’t deliver that level of performance, finishing seventh in his heat and missing the final.

Short was in the mix in the first two-thirds of the race – third as late as 400m to go – before slipping backwards as the race went on. He ended up finishing seventh in 14:58.15s – over twenty seconds slower than last year’s world championships time.

Daniel Wiffen of Ireland won the heat in a fast time of 14:40.45s.

Sam Short after his heat.Source: News Corp Australia

Australia’s 4x100m men’s medley relay team – today consisting of Isaac Cooper, Joshua Yong, Ben Armbruster and Kyle Chalmers – finished third in their heat to book their place in the final.

Cooper was second in 0.18s after a flying first lap but fell behind the top trio by the first change. In the breaststroke, Josh Yong had a brilliant leg to catch up and touch in third, less than half a second off the leaders GB. Armbruster kept Australia right in the hunt by the final change, touching behind the neck-and-neck US and Great Britain. And despite a very close finish as a host of competitors charged for the line, Chalmers held on to finish third in 3:32.24s.

Australia qualified sixth-fastest for the final overall.

The Australian women’s team then took things to another level in their own heat. Backstroker Iona Anderson gave Australia a 0.49s lead over France by the first change. Ella Ramsey was quickly caught in a great battle with the local hopes and China, but managed to make the touch just 0.03s ahead of the Chinese swimmer. In the butterfly leg, China surged clear before Australia’s Alexandria Perkins brilliantly fought back to haul in the rival in the dying metres to lead at the final change. Freestyle star Meg Harris then blasted clear on the final lap to win comfortably in 3:54.81s.

Australia won gold in the event in Tokyo in an Olympic record time of 3:51.60 – just 0.13s in front of the United States.

But in a surprise result in the other heat, Canada beat the United States in 3:56.10s, after the US had a very slow start and needed to power in the second half of the race.

Australia qualified fastest for the final.