Katie Ledecky swims into history with gold medal in 800 freestyle at Paris Olympics
Katie Ledecky continued to make history at the Paris Olympics by becoming the second swimmer in history to win an event at four straight Summer Games.
Ledecky, who held off Ariarne Titmus to win the 800-meter freestyle Saturday night, tied a record previously held solely by Michael Phelps, who won gold in the 200-individual medley at Athens, Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro.
Ledecky claimed her first gold with a surprise victory in the 800 free as a 15-year-old at the 2012 London Games. She has dominated the grueling race ever since.
It was Ledecky's second gold medal in Paris and ninth of her remarkable career, which marked another milestone.
She became only the sixth Olympian to reach that figure, joining swimmer Mark Spitz, track star Carl Lewis, Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina and Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi in a tie for second place.
The only athlete to win more golds is Phelps with 23.
Ledecky went faster than her winning time in Tokyo, touching in 8 minutes, 11.04 seconds. Titmus, the Australian star known as the "Terminator," was right on her shoulder nearly the entire race, but Ledecky pulled away in the final 100.
Titmus, who beat Ledecky in the 400 freestyle, settled for silver at 8:12.29. The bronze went to another American, Paige Madden at 8:13.00.
U.S. sets world record in mixed relay
The United States set a new world record in the 4x100 mixed relay on Saturday, making up for a disappointing showing in Paris so far.
Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske held off China for a winning time of 3:37.43, breaking the mark of 3:37.58 set by Britain when it won gold in the wild and woolly event's Olympic debut three years ago.
With each team picking two men and two women, the U.S. and China both went with their male swimmers in the first two legs.
Murphy put the U.S. in front on the backstroke, China's Qin Haiyang slipped past Nic Fink on the breaststroke, but Walsh put the Americans back in front on the butterfly before Huske held off Yang Junxuan to secure the gold.
The Chinese team, which also included Xu Jiayu and Zhang Yufei, took silver in 3:37.55. The bronze went to Australia in 3:38.76.
When the British won gold in 2021, the Americans finished fifth. Britain was seventh this time.
Kate Douglass takes silver in 200 individual medley
Kate Douglas added another medal to her coffers on Saturday when she won silver in the 200-meter individual medley.
The two-time Olympian started strong but was chased down by 17-year-old Summer McIntosh from Canada, who finished the race with an Olympic record of 2:06.56.
The Americans lost the bronze when Alex Walsh, the silver medalist in this event at Tokyo who recorded a time of 2:07.06, was disqualified because she did not finish the backstroke segment on her back.
It was a bitter blow for Walsh, whose younger sister, Gretchen, has won a gold medal and two silvers in Paris.
Kaylee McKeown of Australia touched fourth and was bumped up to the bronze at 2:08.08.