Article by Aaron Kirby, courtesy of The West Australian.
Meg Harris has pulled off the best swim of her career to nab silver by 0.26 of a second in the women’s 50-metre freestyle final as America claimed victory in the battle of the swimming giants with eight gold medals to Australia’s seven.
It came as Shayna Jack missed the 50-metre freestyle podium, finishing eighth, in the tightest of finishes before vowing to push for another chance in 2028.
World champion Sarah Sjoestroem lived up to the hype taking gold as Harris swam a personal best of 23.97 seconds to beat China’s Yufei Zhang for silver.
Harris was visibly shocked, having been third fastest in her semifinal, as she looked up and saw her name second before climbing from the pool to embrace Jack in an emotional hug.
The 22-year-old was still in disbelief as she reached the media zone.
“I have no words for that,” she said on Nine.
“You always go out there with the hopes that you’re going to do your best, and I would have done everything I’ve ever done again to do that moment.
“I usually get here, and I know what I’m going to say, but I just don’t.
“Shayna was with me the whole way, and I’m proud of her, always will be, and I’m glad I got to do it with her.”
Cameron McEvoy claimed gold in the men’s event after nearly quitting the sport earlier in the meet.
McKeown made a spectacular start to the women’s medley relay in lane four, handing over to Strauch for the breaststroke, practically level with the blistering Americans.
With the world record split in reach, Stauch was burned in the final 30 metres.
Emma McKeown failed to regain ground and fell out of the medal positions as O’Callaghan entered the pool for the final leg of the Olympics.
While the Americans smashed the world record for gold and pool supremacy, O’Callaghan rescued a silver medal for Australia, going from fourth to second.
The men’s medley relay – featuring Isaac Cooper, WA’s Joshua Yong, Matthew Temple and Kyle Chalmers – missed the podium after a terrible opening backstroke leg that saw Cooper swim into the lane rope.
Australia came into the final night of swimming with seven gold medals, one ahead of the USA in their bitter battle for pool supremacy.
The Australians didn’t have a swimmer in the 1500-metre freestyle as one of swimming’s oldest world records was shattered.
American Bobby Finke produced one of the great Olympic swims as Italian champion Gregorio Paltrinieri.
At one stage, the American was more than a body length ahead of the record spilt, but it took a desperate last dive for the wall to create history and win gold in 14:30:67.
