Gold Medalist Katie Ledecky and Bronze Medalist Paige Madden of Team United States sing their national anthem on the podium during the Swimming medal ceremony after the Women's 800m Freestyle Final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Paris La Defense Arena on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (Quinn Rooney/Getty Images/TNS)

PARIS — Katie Ledecky made more Olympics history as she claimed a record-breaking ninth women’s swimming gold medal with a win in the 800-meter freestyle at the Paris Games on Saturday.

She now has one gold medal more than compatriot and previous record holder Jenny Thompson.

Ledecky has also equalled the overall female Olympic record of nine golds, held by Soviet Union gymnast Larisa Latynina.

The American became the seventh Olympian, in any sport, to win four consecutive gold medals in an individual event, a group that includes compatriot and swimming icon Michael Phelps, who won 23 golds in his career.

“Given that Michael is the only one that’s ever done that (in swimming), shows how difficult that is. I think especially in the 800m. It’s a lot of miles. Year after year trying to put in the work. I wouldn’t have pictured that in 2012,” Ledecky said.

Earlier this week, she had become the first female swimmer to win gold medals at four Olympics with a win in the 1,500m freestyle. She now now has 14 Olympic medals in her trophy cabinet.

Ledecky and Australia’s Ariarne Titmus were on a league of their own throughout the entire race, until the American started to push forward to take a comfortable lead before eventually winning in 8 minutes and 11.04 seconds.

Titmus, who already had 400m freestyle gold, claimed silver but only after a tight fight with American Paige Madden, who closed the gap in the final 300m but had to settle for bronze.

During the medal ceremony, Ledecky invited a very emotional Madden to share the top spot of the podium with her.

“That was one of the best moments of my life, and testament to Katie’s character, and the pride we have for Team USA. I’ll be so thankful she did that forever,” Madden said.

The Summer of McIntosh

The 17-year-old Summer McIntosh had an incredible recovery in the final meters of the women’s 200-meter individual medley to win her third gold at the Paris Games and become Canada’s first triple gold medalist in an Olympic Games.

McIntosh prevailed in a tight fight with Kate Douglass of the United States to set a new Olympic record of 2:06.56 minutes. Douglass, who already had 200m breaststroke gold, took silver, 0.36 seconds behind.

“Literally I cannot be happier right now,” McIntosh said.

“For sure it was painful. Winning gets rid of all the pain. I was screaming at myself under water a few times because I could tell that I was behind. I knew that I just had to keep going and pushing in those last ten meters,” she said of the final 50m.

The U.S. had initially also claimed bronze through Alex Walsh but she was disqualified because she flipped too early in the turn from backstroke to breaststroke.

The medal went to Australia’s Kaylee McKeown, her third medal in Paris after 100m and 200m backstroke golds.

McIntosh previously claimed 200m butterfly and 400m medley golds at the Paris Games.

In the men’s 100m butterfly, Hungary’s Kristóf Milák claimed his second medal at the Paris Olympics with gold.

In an extremely tight fight, Milák touched the wall just 0.09 seconds before second-placed Joshua Liendo of Canada.

Milák won 100m silver at Tokyo 2020 and a 200m silver in Paris.

The Canadian team also took bronze through Ilya Kharun, who completed a butterfly bronze double after also finishing the 200m in third.

World and Olympic records holder and Tokyo 2020 winner Caeleb Dressel of the United States failed to qualify to the final.

US set mixed relay record

The United States clocked a world record 3:37.43 minutes to take Olympic gold in the mixed 4x100m medley relay at Paris Games.

It was an improvement of 0.15s from the previous world record, which belonged to Britain. The Chinese team took silver while Australia claimed bronze.

France sensation Leon Marchand, who won four individual golds at his home Games, had to settle for fourth with his team-mates.

This is only the second world record set at the Paris Games. The other came from China’s Pan Zhanle in the men’s 100m freestyle.

Athletes, experts and coaches have been debating why has it been so hard to see world records in France. One theory for the slower-than-expected times appears to be a pool that is slightly shallower than the optimal depth. That creates more waves and turbulence rolling up to the surface.

Swimming finale on Sunday

Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström clocked a new Olympic record of 23.66s in the semi-finals of the women’s 50m freestyle.

The final take place on Sunday, the last day of swimming competitions at the Paris Games.

The scheduled also includes finals in the men’s 1,500 freestyle and in both men and women’s 4x100m medley relay.

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