Americans finish strong with a relay record at swim worlds

SINGAPORE (AP) – The United States, which had a frustrating swim world championships, ended on a high note Sunday with a record in the women’s 4×100 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 record mark of 3:49.63.

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.

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 the eight days 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 put it all in the pool and 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 seemed to improve.

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

But there were two clear stars through the week.

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

Summer 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.