Canada's Maggie Mac Neil misses podium in women's 100m butterfly title defence
'French Michael Phelps' Leon Marchand delivers men's 400m individual medley gold
No woman has repeated as Olympic butterfly champion in the women's 100-metres and try as she might, Canada's Maggie Mac Neil couldn't crack that nut.
The 24-year-old from London, Ont., was in the medal hunt after one of the fastest opening 50 metres of her career Sunday, but that drained her tank in a furious rush for the wall.
Tokyo's champion was fifth in Paris.
"It's hard enough to do once and to do it again is even harder," Mac Neil said. "The last couple of months, I've been really telling myself that I have nothing to prove to anyone — myself or anyone else."
Torri Huske knocked off world-record holder Gretchen Walsh for gold, using a strong finish to get her hands to the wall just ahead of her teammate in a 1-2 finish for the United States.
The favourite went out with her usual strategy: start fast and try to hold on. It worked at the U.S. trials, where she set her world record of 55.18 last month, and she was under record pace at the turn.
But Huske chased her down in the race that really mattered. The winner touched in 55.59 — about the length of a finger ahead of Walsh's time of 55.63
Mac Neil's time of 56.44 seconds was 0.23 off Zhang Yufei's bronze-worthy performance.
Mac Neil returned from her Olympic debut in Tokyo with a complete set of medals, including freestyle relay silver and medley relay bronze.
In what she's said is her final Olympic Games, Mac Neil still has the 100m freestyle and the women's medley relay to swim in Paris.
Mac Neil completed her master's degree in sport management at Louisiana State University this year and has law school aspirations.
She had no friends or family in Tokyo to celebrate her medals because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Her relatives and friends have made up for that in Paris with as many as 17 in La Defense Arena seats shouting her name.
"It's great to have their support, but that comes a little bit of pressure with that as well," MacNeil said. "I'm excited to share this experience with them. I know they're having a blast, and I can't wait to join them soon."
American 1-2 finish
When Huske saw the "1" beside her name of the scoreboard, she reached across the lane rope to give Walsh and hug while breaking down in tears.
"My first 50 felt really good, and then I've been working on my second 50 a lot, especially after last year I had kind of a weak finish, and I kind of died in my race, and like last Olympics also, I like lost it all in the last 50," Huske said.
China's Yufei claiming the bronze in 56.21 is sure to raise eyebrows since she was one of nearly two dozen swimmers from her country who tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the Tokyo Olympics but were allowed to compete.
Zhang has insisted that she's racing clean.
"I think I was definitely nervous before. I feel like there was a lot of pressure on me just having gone the world record and the Olympic record last night," Walsh said.
"I just wanted to try to execute the race as best as I could and it was definitely a fight to the finish. And seeing the one-two up there though was amazing. I'm so proud of Torri. I'm proud of myself."
'French Phelps' delivers 400m individual medley gold
World record holder Leon Marchand claimed the 400 meters individual medley gold medal at his home Paris Olympics to send fans into delirium.
It was not so much a contest as a coronation for Marchand, with Japan's silver medallist Tomoyuki Matsushita more than six seconds adrift. American Carson Foster took the bronze.
"It's a crazy thing. It was huge when I was in the lane. It was beyond my expectations. Everybody was shouting my name," Marchand said of the atmosphere. "I tried to stay within myself. And tried to conserve some energy for the afternoon. I can free myself from the pressure now and take a breath."
Prepared by Bob Bowman, the coach who turned American Phelps into a gold medal machine, Marchand will bid for another three individual events as the face of his home Games.
Phelps, working with U.S. broadcaster NBC at the Games, watched on at the stadium as his would-be successor was feted by the home fans.
The terraces were festooned with tricolore flags, and the fans generated a deafening roar as Marchand sped to the wall in the final freestyle leg.
Mary-Sophie Harvey qualifies for final
Mary-Sophie Harvey of Trois-Rivieres, Que., qualified eighth for the 200-metre freestyle final Monday on the same night that teammate Summer McIntosh and world-record holder will chase a medal in the 400m individual medley.
Harvey raced a world championship final in the 200 medley in 2022, but an Olympic 200 free final is new territory for the 24-year-old.
Saskatoon's Blake Tierney reached the semifinal of the men's 100-metre backstroke Sunday. The 22-year-old placed 16th.
Along with TV broadcasts on CBC and its partner networks Sportsnet and TSN, you'll be able to stream all of the action from Paris 2024 live and on demand at CBC Gem and on the CBC Sports Paris 2024 App.
With files from CBC Sports and Reuters
