By Our Special Correspondent
Australian swimmer Emma MacKeon became the Commonwealth Games' most successful athlete during a history-making night in the pool.
The 28-year-old McKeon claimed her 11th career gold medal, spread across editions in Glasgow, the Gold Coast and Birmingham, to set a new Commonwealth Games mark for most titles.
It was her third gold in Birmingham, with the other two coming in the 4x100-meter freestyle and 4x100-meter mixed relays.
Australian swimming celebrated again with a world record later Sunday when Maddie Wilson, Kiah Helverton, Mollie O'Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus won the women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay in 7 minutes, 39.29 seconds.
Titmus, a double Olympic gold medalist in Tokyo last year, anchored the relay with a time of 1:52.82, the quickest split in a 4x200-meter relay in history.
The 21-year-old Titmus touched the wall more than 12 seconds in front of the silver medalists Canada, with England another five seconds behind in third.
McKeon's gold was part of an Australian medal sweep in the women's 50 free.
She won in a time of 23.99 seconds, with teammates Meg Harris taking silver and Shayna Jack claiming the bronze.
With McKeon's parents Ron and Susie, both former international swimmers, sitting in the stands, the five-time Olympic gold medalist surpassed fellow Aussie swimmers Ian Thorpe, Susie O'Neill and Leisel Jones for most career golds at the quadrennial event.
"It is a fun event for me, the 50. I feel like I am a lot more relaxed this year than last year," McKeon said.
She has now won 16 Commonwealth Games medals in total and has another four races on her program.
South African Chad le Clos equaled the current Commonwealth record total of 18 medals earlier Sunday, a decade after causing one of the great Olympic upsets in London.
The South African swimmer timed his finish to perfection in the 200-meter butterfly in the 2012 Olympics to beat American superstar Michael Phelps by .05 seconds.
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