Sarah Sjöström of Sweden completes the 50-100 free double on the final night of Olympic swimming

NANTERRE, France (AP) - Sarah Sjöström of Sweden claimed her second gold medal of the Paris Olympics, furiously dashing from one end of the pool to the other to easily claim the 50-meter freestyle title on the final night of swimming Sunday.

The 30-year-old Sjöström, competing in her fifth Summer Games, had already won the 100 free - an event in which she holds the world record but only decided to swim at the urging of her coach.

She was more surprised than anyone with that victory, which had her overflowing with confidence heading into the 50 free.

Sjöström touched in 23.71 seconds, just shy of the world record of 23.61 she set at the 2023 world championships in Fukuoka, Japan. In a race that’s usually decided by a hundredths of a second, the Swedish star turned this into a relative blowout. She was fastest off the block and clearly in control by the midway point of the single lap.

Meg Harris of Australia took the silver in 23.97, while the bronze went to China’s Zhang Yufei in 24.20. For Zhang, one of the swimmers implicated in a Chinese doping scandal, it was her fourth bronze of the games to go with a silver.

Gretchen Walsh of the United States just missed out on her fourth medal of the games, touching fourth in 24.21.

In the last individual event, Daniel Wiffen of Ireland was looking to add the 1,500 freestyle title to his victory in the 800 free.

The competition at La Defense Arena was set to close with the men’s and women’s 4×100 medley relays.

___

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games