Torri Huske emerged as the most decorated female Olympian at the Paris Olympics, delivering an impressive series of performances across multiple events.
The American swimmer clinched gold and set a world record in the 4x100m mixed medley relay, while repeating the feat in the women’s 4x100m medley relay event.
She won three gold medals and two silver medals at the Paris Games.
Women’s 100m butterfly
Huske knocked off world-record holder Gretchen Walsh in the women’s 100m butterfly event, 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.
![Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh of Team United States celebrate after winning gold and silver in the Women’s 100m Butterfly Final on day two of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh of Team United States celebrate after winning gold and silver in the Women’s 100m Butterfly Final on day two of the Olympic Games Paris 2024.](https://assetsss.thehindu.com/theme/images/ss-online/1x1_spacer.png)
Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh of Team United States celebrate after winning gold and silver in the Women’s 100m Butterfly Final on day two of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
Women’s 100m freestyle
Huske also achieved an unexpected silver in the 100m freestyle with a personal best of 52.29, finishing behind Sarah Sjostrom.
Sjostrom had plenty of ground to make up at the turn but put in a sizzling final 50 metres, sweeping down lane seven to touch the wall in 52.16 seconds, 0.13 seconds ahead of Huske.
Women’s 4x100m freestyle relay
In the 4x100m freestyle relay, Huske, Walsh, Kate Douglass, and Simone Manuel won silver with an American record time of 3:30.20; Huske delivered the fastest American split at 52.06.
They were overtaken by Australia, who won gold with an Olympic record of 3:28.92. USA earned the silver after making a late push but were unable to overtake Australia.
4x100m mixed medley relay
Huske won another gold and set a world record in the 4x100m mixed medley relay with Walsh, Ryan Murphy, and Nic Fink, anchoring with a freestyle split of 51.88, the quickest in the field.
The United States broke the world record in winning the Olympic 4x100m mixed medley relay gold, outgunning China and Australia.
USA touched in 3:37.43 to narrowly better the mark set by Britain at the Tokyo Games, when the event was first added to the Olympic programme.
Women’s 4x100m medley relay
In the final swimming event of the Games, Huske anchored the women’s 4x100m medley relay to a world record gold medal finish alongside Regan Smith, Lilly King, and Walsh for USA.
USA touched out with a final time of three minutes 49.63 seconds at the La Defense Arena. The previous record of 3:50.40 was set by the United States at the world championships in Gwangju, South Korea, in July 2019.
Australia took the silver and China the bronze.
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