Olympics-Swimming-McEvoy wins 50 metres gold in Australian first

By Alan Baldwin

PARIS (Reuters) - Cameron McEvoy wrote his name on the list of Olympic champions at the Paris Games on Friday as the first Australian man to win swimming's fastest race, the 50 metres freestyle "splash and dash".

Britain's Ben Proud took the silver -- his first Olympic medal -- and France's Florent Manaudou the bronze, 12 years after he won gold in the event at London 2012.

On a night of triumph for swimming's older generation, McEvoy took his first Olympic title at the age of 30 and Proud his first Olympic medal at 29, while Manaudou continued to deliver at 33 with his fifth medal in four Games.

"The crowd was extreme. I've never heard the crowd louder," said McEvoy of the atmosphere in an arena converted from a rugby stadium - and sounding like one.

"Two years ago, I didn't even think I'd have a lane here. I was not even thinking about swimming."

Tokyo Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel of the United States finished sixth.

"I could be performing better, I'm not," Dressel said. "I train to go faster than the times I'm going, I know that, so yeah, it's tough, a little heartbreaking for sure."

If golden hero Leon Marchand's later race was top of the bill, Manaudou was greeted with chants of "Florent, Florent" as he stepped on to the pool deck.

He milked the applause, hands raised and encouraging the fans to clap.

"I said to myself we are in a rugby ground, there are 15,000 people, why not get them clapping, it could bring energy, profit from the moment because it's once in a lifetime," said the Frenchman.

McEvoy, three times a bronze medallist from Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo in 2021, shut out the noise to make sure of gold with a time of 21.25 seconds.

Proud, whose only race is the 50 free, touched out 0.05 later and Manaudou, who shares a coach with the Briton, finished 0.31 slower.

"Three years ago at about this time I just burst into tears, I couldn't take the fact that I failed in my race back in Tokyo," said Proud.

"This time around I definitely feel I did what I wanted to do... The race that I wanted to execute was executed.

"Maybe I might look back and see things I'd want to change but in reality that was probably the best swim I've done in a championship final."

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Clare Fallon)