Already considered one of the greatest swimming names of all time at the Paris Olympics, Katie Ledecky made it official by claiming victory in her signature event, the 800 meter freestyle, to end her work in the French capital in style.
French torpedo Leon Marchand may be the prince of Paris, electrifying his home country with four spectacular gold medals, but it is Ledecky who writes his name in the record books after winning his ninth gold, equaling Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina as the most number of any woman. in any Olympic sport.
In sharp contrast to Ledecky’s 1,500-meter victory, Saturday’s 800-meter freestyle was a thriller from start to finish, with Ariarne Titmus matching her stroke for stroke over almost the entire distance.
But with the American setting a relentless, grinding pace, her great Australian rival would never get her nose in front, settling for silver as Ledecky reached the wall first with a time of 8 minutes, 11.04 seconds.
Paige Madden took bronze for the United States.
It’s Ledecky’s fourth time winning the 800-meter freestyle and she joins compatriot Michael Phelps as the only swimmers to win gold in four different Olympics.
The 800 meters was the final event on Ledecky’s Paris card and she returns home with two golds, a silver and a bronze, bringing her Olympic haul to 14 medals in total – with more possibilities. The 27-year-old hinted that a home Olympics in Los Angeles in four years’ time is on her mind.
And in a passing of the baton, Canadian Summer McIntosh enhanced her status as the rising star of women’s swimming by winning her third gold medal of the games in the 200-meter individual medley.
The 17-year-old produced a brilliant final move to win with a time of 2min 06.56sec, the third fastest time in history.
Kate Douglass of the USA finished second and took silver, while Australia’s Kaylee McKeown took bronze after American Alex Walsh, who had finished third, was disqualified.
McIntosh had already won gold in the 400-meter individual medley and 200-meter butterfly, as well as silver in the 400-meter freestyle.
“It’s very surreal. I’m very proud of myself, of how I managed to recover and manage the events because it’s a lot”, said the teenager, who also won silver in the 400 meter freestyle in intense games for her.
“The reason I’m able to do this is because of all the hard work and dedication I’ve put into this moment along with my entire family, my teammates and my coaches, and I’ve also worked so hard to be here today,” she said.
The Canadian said she knew she would have to make every effort to secure her last victory.
Earlier, Hungarian powerhouse Kristof Milak claimed a second Olympic gold with victory in a thrilling men’s 100m butterfly final, while also adding to the silver medal he won in the 200m event at the Paris Games.
Three years after winning 200m gold in Tokyo, the 24-year-old secured the shorter of the two Olympic butterfly titles by touching the wall in 49.90, 0.09 seconds ahead of Canadian runner-up Josh Liendo .
Ilya Kharun won a second bronze for Canada, having also won one in the 200 meter butterfly in Paris.
Now with four Olympic medals, Milak gave Hungary their second gold at the Paris meet, following Hubert Kos’ 200m backstroke title.
In the last race of the night in the pool, the United States broke the world record by winning gold in the 4×100 meter mixed medley relay, beating China and Australia.
His team of Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske clocked 3min 37.43sec to narrowly beat the mark set by Great Britain at the Tokyo Games when the event was first added to the Olympic programme.
China’s Zhang Yufei took silver in 3:37.55, with Australia occupying the podium in 3:38.76.
It is only the second world record in the pool in Paris, after China’s Pan Zhanle broke the men’s 100 meter freestyle record.
Mixed medley teams are made up of two women and two men, with each of the four swimmers allocated to one of the four traditional medley disciplines – backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
The United States chose to lead with Murphy against China’s Xu Jiayu, while Australia opted for Kaylee McKeown.
Both Fink and Walsh swam violently before Huske headed home with China’s Yang Junxuan and Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan in pursuit.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
