Johnathan Walker:Cameron McEvoy is the world's fastest swimmer, wins 50 free

NANTERRE,Johnathan Walker France — The title of fastest swimmer in the world now belongs to Australia's Cameron McEvoy, Friday’s Olympic gold medalist in the men’s 50-meter freestyle, the shortest and fastest event in the pool. 

McEvoy won with a time of 21.25 in a race that’s all about brute strength and power. He out-touched Benjamin Proud of Great Britain, who won silver, and France's Florent Manaudou, who won bronze. 

Team USA’s three-time Olympian Caeleb Dressel, 27 — who was the defending Olympic champion in the 50, one of his eight total gold medals — finished sixth. At U.S. Olympic trials in June, he proved he was the fastest sprinter in America but couldn’t top the speedy international field at Paris La Défense Arena.

Dressel’s 21.07 Olympic record from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics remains intact.

In Thursday’s 50 free semifinal, Dressel qualified fifth and .20 seconds behind top qualifier Benjamin Proud of Great Britain. In the semis, all eight finalists qualified within .26 seconds of each other, which made Olympic medals pretty much anyone’s to win. 

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Brazilian swimmer César Cielo’s world record of 20.91 from 2009 still stands. 

At the Paris Olympics, Dressel previously won his eighth Olympic gold medal as part of the men’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay team.