French favourite Leon Marchand took his fourth gold medal of the Paris Olympics when he won the men’s 200 metres individual medley in an Olympic record time on Friday.

Britain’s Duncan Scott won the silver and China’s Wang Shun the bronze at a deafening La Defense Arena.

Marchand is the first French athlete to take four individual gold medals, as opposed to team ones, at a single Summer Games and only the third male swimmer to do so after Americans Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz.

The 22-year-old won the 400 individual medley last Sunday and then both the 200 butterfly and 200 breaststroke on Wednesday.

Kaylee feat

Australia’s Kaylee McKeown cemented her place among the greats of Olympic swimming as she became the first woman to retain both of the backstroke titles with gold in the 200m event in Paris.

The 23-year-old world record holder once again overhauled American challenger Regan Smith in a battle royale to claim the win in an Olympic record 2:03.73 at La Defense Arena.Smith took silver, 0.53 seconds behind her Australiannemesis.

McKeown, who retained her 100m title on day four in Paris, is now Australia’s first Olympian to win four gold medals in individual events as opposed to team ones, taking her past a parade of iconic names like Dawn Fraser, Ian Thorpe and Betty Cuthbert.

On Wednesday, Katie Ledecky collected the 13th medal of her stellar career to become the most decorated woman in swimming history on Thursday.

Ledecky and her three American teammates took silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay, trailing an Australian squad led by individual gold medalists Mollie O’Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus.

“There’s always pressure, but I think we were just going out there to do the best we could and win a medal and whatever records come with that medal will come and that’s what happened,” said Erin Gemmell, who took the anchor leg after Ledecky went third.

In her next-to-last event of these games, Ledecky broke the mark she shared with fellow Americans Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin and Jenny Thompson. The 27-year-old now has eight gold, four silver and one bronze over four Olympics, with every intention of swimming on to Los Angeles in 2028.

No other American woman has more Olympic medals than Ledecky. Only four athletes rank higher on the overall list, which is led by Michael Phelps with 28.

Swimmer collapses

Slovakia’s Tamara Potocka collapsed after her women’s 200m individual medley heat on Friday because she has asthma and did not have her inhaler with her, a team official said after the swimmer received medical treatment.

Medical staff carried her away from the pool side on a stretcher with an oxygen mask on her face.