Already regarded as one of the greatest swimmers of all time ahead of the Paris Olympics, Katie Ledecky officially declared her status and capped off her time in the French capital with a win in her signature event, the 800m freestyle.
French goalkeeper Leon Marchand may have been the Prince of Paris, impressing his country with four gold medals, but it was Ledecky who put her name in the record books with her ninth gold, tying Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina for the most Olympic gold medals by a woman.
In contrast to Ledecky’s crushing victory in the 1,500m, Saturday’s 800m freestyle was a thrilling race from start to finish, with Ariarne Titmus swimming the same stroke for almost the entire race.
But while the American athlete continued to build speed, her fierce rival Australia never got ahead, and Ledecky eventually reached the wall first in 8 minutes, 11.04 seconds, taking the silver medal.
Paige Madden won a bronze medal representing the United States.
This is Ledecky’s fourth win in the 800-meter freestyle, joining South Korea’s Michael Phelps as the only swimmers to have won gold medals in four Olympics.
The 800m was the final event on Ledecky’s Paris card, and she returned home with two golds, a silver and a bronze to take her Olympic medal tally to 14, with more possible. The 27-year-old has hinted that she is considering a home Olympics in Los Angeles in four years’ time.
And as the baton was passed, Canada’s Summer McIntosh further solidified her status as women’s swimming’s breakout star by winning her third gold medal in the 200m individual medley.
The 17-year-old showed off his superb drive in the second half to win in 2:06.56, the third fastest time in history.
Kate Douglas of the United States took silver in second place, while Australia’s Kayleigh McKeon took bronze after American Alex Walsh, who finished third, was disqualified.
Mackintosh has already won gold in the 400m individual medley and 200m butterfly, and silver in the 400m freestyle.
“It’s pretty surreal. I’m really proud of how I was able to recover and manage the event. It’s been a lot of work,” said the teenager, who won silver in the 400m freestyle. She competed fiercely in this event.
“I am here because of the hard work and dedication of myself, my family, my teammates, my coaches, and I worked hard to get to where I am today,” she said.
The Canadian said he knew he had to do everything he could to secure his latest win.
Earlier, Hungarian powerhouse Kristof Milak claimed his second Olympic gold with a thrilling victory in the men’s 100m butterfly final, adding to the silver he won in the 200m at the Paris Olympics.
Three years after winning 200m gold in Tokyo, the 24-year-old touched the barrier in 49.90, the fastest time of his two Olympic butterfly titles, 0.09 seconds ahead of Canadian runner-up Josh Riendo.
Ilya Karun won Canada’s second bronze medal, having also won bronze in the 200m butterfly in Paris.
Milak, who now has four Olympic medals, gave Hungary its second gold medal in Paris after Hubert Coss won the 200m backstroke.
In the final race of the night at the pool, the United States won gold in the 4×100m mixed medley relay, breaking the world record over China and Australia.
The team of Ryan Murphy, Nick Fink, Gretchen Walsh and Torrey Huskey clocked 3:37.43, narrowly beating the British record set at the Tokyo Olympics, which was the first time the sport was added to the Olympics.
China’s Zhang Yufei won silver in 3:37.55, while Australia took the medal in 3:38.76.
A second world record was set at the Paris Games after China’s Pan Zhanle broke the men’s 100m freestyle record.
A mixed medley team consists of two women and two men, and the four swimmers are assigned to swim one of the four traditional medley events: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, or freestyle.
The US decided to put Murphy up front against China’s Xu Jiayu, while Australia went with Kayleigh McKeon.
Pink and Walsh swam powerfully with both legs, and the Husky won, followed by China’s Yang Junxuan and Australia’s Molly O’Callaghan.
