Emma McKeon wins gold in women's 50m freestyle
The Australian swimmer is on a medal record haul after winning the 50m freestyle and shatters her own Olympic record on the last day of Olympic swimming
Swimming
Australian Emma McKeon stormed to victory in the 50m freestyle event today at Tokyo Aquatics Centre clocking in a blistering time of 23:81 which broke her own Olympic record of 24:00 she set on the previous day.
It was a close call in the early part of the race as there were no runaway leaders, but by mid-race McKeown broke a slender lead and was swimming at world record time until she touched the wall first to win her third gold.
Right after competing in the 50m freestyle, McKeon also won the 4x100m medley relay today together with Australian teammates Kaylee McKeown, Chelsea Hodges and Cate Campbell, bringing McKeon's gold medal tally to four.
McKeon now holds seven Olympic medals at Tokyo 2020 - four golds and three bronze - making her the first female swimmer in Olympic history to win seven medals in one Olympic Games.
“It still feels pretty surreal. I never thought I would win two golds in one session … I’m very proud of myself,” McKeon said as reported by Japan Times
Meanwhile, Sweden's Sarah Sjoestroem - who returned from injury to compete at the Olympic Games - picked up silver after clocking in 24.07 in the 50m freestyle.
Asked how she feels after winning silver at the event, Sjoestroem said: "This means so much to me. Now I have an Olympic medal in my main events - gold, silver and bronze in 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly in Rio - and I have silver (now) in 50m freestyle.
"Preparation for this has been crazy for me because I had a fracture in my elbow in February and it was really really hard to come back and at some point, I really didn't know if I could come back to the Olympics.
"And now I am here and I finished this competition with a silver and it feels amazing and to share the podium with one my training partners Pernille Blume, it feels amazing."
Denmark's Pernille Blume claimed bronze finishing .40 seconds behind McKeon.
"I'm very happy. The first 25 was a bit of a mess, but I managed to set things straight and get back into the race and race my heart out. I'm really proud that I turned it around," Blume said after the event.