Paris Olympics 2024: Cameron McEvoy wins 50m freestyle final for Australia in stunning career turnaround
Australian veteran Cam McEvoy has won the splash-and-dash 50m freestyle in a fairytale end to his Olympic career, just years after walking away from the sport.
The four-time Olympian is the country’s first-ever medallist in the event.
Benjamin Proud, who McEvoy shared a dead heat with for first in the semifinal, won silver and hometown hero Florent Manadou claimed bronze — his fourth-straight Games with a medal.
McEvoy claimed gold with a lightning time of 21.25 seconds, 0.05 ahead of Proud, in a swim where he teased the world record line until the final 15 metres.
It is Australia’s ninth gold medal at this Games, but the first to be won by a man.
The 30-year-old left the sport in the wake of the Tokyo Olympics and it was only after spending time working on his strength through calisthenics sessions that he turned his eye to the sport’s most frantic event.
Then it was a trip to Paris in the middle of the Olympic cycle that convinced him competing in the city would be his next target.
Backstroke queen Kaylee McKeown is the raging hot favourite to take out the women’s 200m later in the session, which could be her second gold medal of these Games.
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