The United States, which had a frustrating swimming world championships, ended on a high note Sunday with a world record in the women’s 4×100 medley in the last event of the eight-day championships.
The Americans swam a time of 3 minutes, 49.34 seconds, breaking their own old mark of 3:49.63.
Regan Smith, Kate Douglas and Gretchen Walsh swam the first three legs with Torri Huske taking the anchor.
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.
There were two clear stars through the week. Summer McIntosh won all four medals for Canada, and Leon Marchand of France left the worlds with two individual gold medals.
The 18-year-old McIntosh closed her championships with a victory in the 400-meter individual medley (4:25.78), winning by more than seven seconds. She came away one gold shy of her quest to win five but is still only the second woman to win four individual golds at a world championships.
McIntosh also won gold during the meet in the 200-meter butterfly, the 200 IM and the 400 freestyle. Her only blip was finishing third to American Katie Ledecky in the 800 freestyle Saturday.
Marchand won the 400 IM but didn’t break his own world record. Marchand won in 4:04.73, just off the world mark he set two years ago in Fukuoka, Japan (4:02.50). Tomoyuki Matsushita of Japan took silver (4:08.32) with bronze for Ilia Borodin of the Neutral Athletes (4:09.16).
Marchand, earlier in the championships, shattered the 200 IM mark in 1:52.69. The old mark was 1:54.00 set 14 years ago by Lochte.
American swimmers have battled a case of “acute gastroenteritis” picked up at a training camp in Thailand. The malady clearly affected the team’s performances, with only five gold medals through six days, but the United States won four in the last two days as the swimmers’ health seemed to improve.
“This is the best way to end the meet,” 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 leave Singapore with a smile on our faces.”
American Bobby Finke, the Paris Olympic champion at 1,500 meters, took a bronze in that event Sunday.
“I’m proud of the USA team and what we’ve been able to accomplish despite all the people back at home saying whatever they want to say,” Finke said. “But you know, I’m proud of these boys. If someone’s angry, my DMs are open.”
Former American swimmers Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte were critical of Team USA on social media, and Rowdy Gaines called for changes at USA Swimming, who has been without a CEO for a year.
“Do whatever you want,” Finke said. “But you know, I’m proud of the team and what we’ve been able to do here. It’s a big stepping point for the 2028 LA Olympics.”
Sunday’s closing day featured eight finals and victories for seven different teams.
Kliment Kolesnikov of the Neutral Athletes won the men’s 50 backstroke in 23.68. Kolesnikov holds the world record (23.55). Pieter Coetze of South Africa and Pavel Samusenko of the Neutral Athletes tied for silver (24.17).
Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania, the world record holder, claimed the 50 breaststroke (29.55) with silver for Tang Qianting of China (30.03) and bronze to Benedetta Pilato of Italy (30.14).
Meg Harris of Australia took the women’s 50 free (24.02). Harris was also the silver medalist in the same event in the Paris Olympics. China claimed the next two places with Wu Qingfeng (24.26) taking silver and bronze for Cheng Yujie (24.28).
Ahmed Jaouadi of Tunisia, winner of the 800 free, added the 1,500 title on Sunday (14:34.41) with silver for Sven Schwarz of Germany (14:35.69) and bronze for Finke (14:36.60).
The Neutral Athletes won the men’s 4×100 medley relay (3:26.93), followed by France (3:27.96) and the United States (3:28.62). It was the second gold of the night for the Neutral Athletes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.