PARIS, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Australian veteran Cameron McEvoy secured his first Olympic gold medal by winning the men's 50m freestyle final at the Paris Games on Friday.
The 30-year-old touched the wall in 21.25 seconds, just 0.05 seconds ahead of Britain's Benjamin Proud, who took silver.
Tokyo 2020 silver medalist and London 2012 champion Florent Manaudou of France claimed bronze in 21.56 seconds.
Defending Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel finished sixth, more than half a second off the winning pace.
The result made McEvoy the first Australian man to secure the Olympic 50m title.
"Just literally pure joy. It's amazing to win but that entire 21.25 seconds was bliss," said McEvoy, who is competing in his fourth Olympics.
"The way the stroke moved in the water - I never thought I'd be able to experience that, the joy of the movement, let alone getting a gold medal with it. It's unreal."
Before Friday, all of McEvoy's three Olympic medals had been bronze, and all had come in relays.
