NANTERRE, France — To the end, Lilly King was golden at the Olympic Games.
With the Evansville swimmer on breaststroke, the United States won the women’s 4x100-meter medley relay with a world record of 3:49.63 in the final event Sunday night at Paris La Defense Arena.
Not only did King secure a third Olympic gold medal, Carmel’s Alex Shackell earned her first. Because Shackell swam in the heats Saturday, she picks up a gold to add to the silver she won in the 4x200 freestyle relay.
Australia won the silver medal in 3:53.11 and China the bronze in 3:53.23.
The outcome allowed the Americans to edge Australia 8-7 in swimming golds at the Paris Olympics.
The United States led in total medals 28-18. China was third in total medals with 12.
The Americans featured world record-holders in backstroke (Regan Smith 57.28), breaststroke (King 1:04.90) and butterfly (Gretchen Walsh 55.03). On freestyle was Torri Huske (52.42), the silver medalist at these Paris Olympics.
The previous world record was 3:50.40 in 2019 by the United States, whose team included Smith and King. The previous Olympic record was 3:51.60 by Australia in 2021.
When Shackell, 17, returns to Carmel High School classes this week, she will do so as an Olympic champion. In case any teacher wants her to write an essay about what she did over the summer, well, that’s what she did.
It was King’s third gold medal — after two she won at Rio de Janeiro in the 100 breaststroke and the 4x100 medley relay — and sixth Olympic medal. The Indiana University graduate, 27, has said Paris would be her last Olympics.
It was the sixth global gold in this relay for King, including four from World Championships.
Contact WTHR correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.