China dethroned the United States in the men's 4x100m medley relay, winning gold in a time of three minutes, 27.46 seconds, edging the US into silver by 0.55 seconds at the Paris Olympics.

France won the bronze, handing swimming star Leon Marchand his fifth medal of the Games.

Xu Jiayu and Qin Haiyang kept the Chinese in contention in the back and breast strokes.

France's Maxime Grousset and the US's Caleb Dressel pulled ahead of Sun Jiajun in the fly portion of the race, but an incredible 45.92 anchor leg from Pan Zhanle, the world record holder in the 100 metres free, ensured the win for China who ended America's 64-year unbeaten run in the event.

But in the women's medley relay, the Americans dominated, smashing their own world record in the event to close the swimming meet at the Olympics with the gold medal.

Australia took the silver and China grabbed bronze.

The US quartet of Regan Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske touched out with a final time of 3 minutes 49.63 seconds at the La Defense Arena.

American Bobby Finke smashed the men's 1,500 metres freestyle world record as he retained the Olympic gold medal in a thrilling swim.

After 30 lung-busting laps, Finke touched the wall in 14 minutes, 30.67 seconds, eclipsing Chinese star Sun Yang's 12-year-old mark of 14:31.02 set at the London Games.

Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri took silver, 3.88 seconds behind Finke, with Daniel Wiffen, the 800m gold medallist, taking the bronze for Ireland.

And Swedish sprint star Sarah Sjostrom completed a freestyle sprint double by adding the women's 50 metres gold to her 100 title.

Australia's Meg Harris took the silver as the only other woman under 24 seconds and China's Zhang Yufei the bronze for her sixth medal of the Games and 10th of her career. (Agencies)