Paris Olympics, Day 7 Finals: Cam McEvoy Wins 50 Free Ahead Of Ben Proud & Florent Manaudou
Cam McEvoy won the 50 free at his fourth Olympic Games, as he led home the three oldest men in the field at La Defense Arena.
McEvoy clocked 21.25 to become the first Australian to make the dash podium ahead of Ben Proud, who stopped the clock at 21.30 to finally visit the Olympic rostrum at his third attempt.
In third was Florent Manaudou who became the first man to win four medals in the 50 free, the Frenchman touching in 21.56 from lane one where he’d led the crowd in the Viking clap ahead of the race as the atmosphere rose to fever pitch.
Cameron McEvoy: Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia
With McEvoy 30, Proud 29 and Manaudou the oldest in the final at 33, it was a podium of longevity, adaptability and resilience and no little history.
Josh Liendo of Canada was fourth in 21.58 followed by Kristian Gkolomeev of Greece, who matched his fifth-place finish of Tokyo in 21.59, reigning champion Caeleb Dressel (21.61), Italian Leonardo Deplano (21.62) and Jordan Crooks (21.64) as third to eighth were separated by just 0.08.
Crooks was just the second athlete from the Cayman Islands to make an Olympic final in any sport, joining athlete Cydonia Mothersill who was eighth in the women’s 200 meters at the Beijing 2008.
- World Record: Cesar Cielo, BRA – 20.91 (2009)
- Olympic Record: Caeleb Dressel, USA – 21.07 (2021)
- Tokyo Olympic Champion: Caeleb Dressel, USA – 21.07
- Meet Results
- 2024 Paris Olympics Meet Page
McEvoy earned his first international medal on the senior stage with silver in the men’s medley relay at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona. At that point in his career, McEvoy was best known for his ability in the 100 and 200 freestyle but over the last few years, his career renaissance has hinged on a move to the 50 free, and an adjustment in his training to emphasise pure speed.
In addition to winning gold at the 2023 World Championships, McEvoy was the silver medallist earlier this year at the Doha worlds. He’s also been the 50 freestyle’s top-ranked performer over the past two years, with his best of 21.06 ranking as the fifth-fastest performance in history.
McEvoy came into the Games with three Olympic relay medals from Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021 but now he landed that first individual title.
“It’s ultimately incredible,” said McEvoy. “In the end, I got the result that you go after and you try and get.
It’s hard to explain the two-year process that it took – even longer really from the start of my swimming career – but particularly the last two years and the route that I took to get it here.
“It’s very hard to describe that and for me that definitely surpasses just the 21 seconds tonight, the getting the gold medal, that’s just kind of the tip of the iceberg. And I guess that act of creation effectively over the last two years to start from not really having much of an idea and then just developing something and seeing where it can go.
“Myself I guess being the guinea pig and going through the motions and seeing where it would take me. That’s something that I’ll find it very hard to replicate in my life and that is going to be something I’m going to be most proud of for ever.”
Ben Proud: Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia
Proud’s journey has seen him cross continents, train in the Pacific Ocean with Anthony Ervin and Aaron Peirsol and claim every title – long and short-course – but he’d never had an Olympic medal around his neck.
He’s the only man to have simultaneously held the world, Commonwealth and European titles, a treble he completed in less than eight busy weeks in the summer of 2022.
However, the closest he’d come to the Olympic podium was fourth at Rio 2016 where he was locked out by 0.19 as Nathan Adrian finished third behind Ervin and Manaudou.
Five years later in Tokyo, Proud finished joint fifth alongside Gkolomeev, 0.15 off third spot occupied by Brazil’s Bruno Fratus, who posted 21.57 for bronze.
He was inconsolable that day, in stark contrast to the man who spoke to reporters following the race in Paris.
“Three years ago it was about this time that I just burst into tears, I couldn’t take the fact I’d kind of failed in my race back in Tokyo,” he said.
“But that was probably the most fitting thing I went through because if I hadn’t gone through that, I wouldn’t have experienced these past three years which have been the highest of highs and lowest of lows. Back in 2022, hitting what I would say is my rock-bottom, and just having to crack on and deal with it has led to me finding a very great balance with my swimming, my lifestyle, with my coaches and this time around I feel like I did what I wanted to do.
“You know, 0.05 of a second would have been a very different change but to be second behind Cam it seems like the most fitting thing.
“The cherry on top? Sharing that podium with Florent. We share the same coach – James has helped us both out in huge ways – so huge credit to him and to Marco (strength and conditioning coach Marco Cosso).
“Marco has been there absolutely day in and day out and that will be my biggest thing to go and see him because we shared so much together this past two years. That experience, sharing with that somebody, just the process of training and living super-focused to our sport.”
Manaudou, the four-time world champion, initially squeaked into the final in eighth before teammate Maxime Grousset withdrew with Liendo elevated into the decider.
Florent Manaudou & Ben Proud: Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia
His arrival on poolside was greeted with deafening chants of ‘Florent! Florent!’ that reached a crescendo when he reached the other end of the pool 21.56secs later.
“It’s amazing,” beamed Manaudou. “I wanted to enjoy the crowd tonight. I know I am in another final, I am in the programme for 12 years now and I am proud of that.
“But the most important was to enjoy the process, to have the smile, the home Olympics is different definitely so I just wanted to smile and maybe to play a bit with the crowd.
“I wanted to do it since I saw Leon Marchand the first day because I understood that the crowd was amazing and they were supporting us. I was like ‘okay, we are not in track and field or we are not in rugby or football so maybe people will not follow but let’s try’. And yeah, it was an amazing experience, especially as I was in lane one so in front of the crowd, it was crazy.”
Manaudou won gold at London 2012 and silvers in Rio and Tokyo to stand alongside Gary Hall Jr, who also had three medals with silver at Atlanta 1996 followed by joint gold alongside Ervin four years later in Sydney before claiming the title at Athens 2004.
His has now become a journey like McEvoy and Proud. “You have to change your mindset, and adapt depending on how you feel I think,” he said. “I’m not doing the same thing as in 2012. For example this year I decided to swim a bit more alone like Cameron, like Ben, all of us we are more alone on the journey.
“We’re here to enjoy the process and to be authentic – it’s a bit difficult to work with me sometimes because for example from September to December, I like to party a lot. I wanted to take out the stress and if I want to do something I will do it. Of course, there are certain limits, I will not party the day before the final for example. But everything counts when it matters and I’m here and this year I just wanted to enjoy and I’m on the podium again.”
Liendo was within a sliver of the podium after being given a second chance following Grousset’s withdrawal, which served as fire in the belly for the 100 fly semis where he progressed third for the final.
“It was a lot of fun. Obviously, I wanted to get on that podium. But I mean at that point, I was like, Alright, I’ve just got to use it as fuel now for this 100 (fly).”
- EVENT PAGE
- SCHEDULE
- VENUE
- STREAMING INFO
- DAY 1 PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY 1 FINALS RESULTS
- DAY 2 PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY 2 FINALS RESULTS
- DAY 3 PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY 3 FINALS RESULTS
- DAY 4 PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY 4 FINALS RESULTS
- DAY 5 PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY 5 FINALS RESULTS
- DAY 6 PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY 6 FINALS RESULTS
- DAY 7 PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY 7 FINALS RESULTS
- DAY 8 PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY 8 FINALS RESULTS
- DAY 9 FINALS RESULTS
Firstly I’d like to commend Swimming World for a detailed,comprehensive and above all Fair article. Another rival site has no dedicated piece and brushes over Cam Mcevoy in its finals summary (once again grossly disrespecting him).
So Redemption for Cam in a Well deserved
GOLD!