American Katie Ledecky won her eighth Olympic gold medal, and her first in Paris, when she coasted to victory in the 1,500-metre freestyle on Wednesday (July 31). She set a new record, winning the race in 15:30.2.
This was her second medal in Paris. She picked up a bronze in the 400-metre freestyle, a race won by the Australian Ariarne Titmus, on July 27.
Biggest gold haul
With her eighth gold and 12 Olympic medals in all, Ledecky is now the most decorated female Olympian swimmer. She shares the honour with fellow American Jenny Thompson, who also won eight golds and four other medals during her reign from the 1992 Barcelona Games to the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Americans Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin, and Australian Emma McKeon, are the only other women swimmers with 12 Olympic medals each.
No other swimmer was even in the frame when Katie Ledecky finished 😳
Absolute DOMINANCE as she breaks the women’s 1500m freestyle Olympic record 🔥 pic.twitter.com/YcoQS2AlzB
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 31, 2024
Commanding victory
Ledecky, 27, won the 1,500 metres, surging ahead of the competition like a force of nature, building a commanding lead as she went.
Leading by three seconds a quarter of the way through, she increased the lead to nearly eight seconds at the 1,200-metre mark and finished more than 10 seconds ahead of Anastasiia Kirpichnikova of France, who won silver. Germany’s Isabel Gose took the bronze.
Her signature race
Ledecky was expected to win the 1,500 metres with good reason. It is her signature race. She won in the Tokyo Olympics, where women were allowed to compete in the 1,500 metres for the first time, and is a five-time world champion in the event (2013, 2015, 2017, 2022, 2023).
Ledecky will go for gold again in the 800-metre freestyle, which she won in all three previous Olympics –Tokyo, London (2012) and Rio de Janeiro (2016).
If she wins, she will become the first woman to win nine gold medals in swimming. The former Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, who competed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, is the only woman who won nine gold Olympic medals.