USA tops medal tally in World Swimming Championships

Singapore: The United States, which had a frustrating swim world championships, ended on a high note Sunday with a world record in the women’s 4x100 medley relay 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 set a year ago in the Paris Olympics.

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 gold medals. The 18-year-old Canadian star Summer McIntosh won all four golds.

The Americans battled a case of “acute gastroenteritis” picked up at a training camp in Thailand. The malady clearly affected the team’s up-and-down performances in Singapore.

“This is the best way to end the meet,” Gretchen 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,” she added. Regan Smith, Kate Douglass and Walsh swam the first three legs with Torri Huske taking the anchor.

The Americans had only five gold medals through six days, but won four in the last two as team health clearly improved.

Finke defends his teamAmerican Bobby Finke, the Paris Olympic champion at 1,500 meters, took a bronze in that event on Sunday.