Another romp for Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh. A gold medal for American Kate Douglass. And, to cap things off, a record-breaking night for Katie Ledecky.
With a silver in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay Thursday night, Ledecky collected the 13th medal of her stellar career to become the most decorated woman in swimming history.
She would’ve preferred it to be gold, but that went to an Australian squad led by individual gold medalists Mollie O’Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus.
Still, in her next-to-last event of these games, Ledecky broke the mark she shared with fellow Americans Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin and Jenny Thompson. The 27-year-old now has eight golds, four silvers and one bronze over four Olympics, with every intention of swimming on to Los Angeles in 2028. McIntosh cruised to victory in the 200 butterfly, dealing American Regan Smith a familiar silver-medal finish.
But Douglass put the U.S. on the top of the podium in the 200 breaststroke, a race that essentially served as a changing of the guard. Longtime American star Lilly King, competing in her final Olympics, finished last in the final. She made her way over several lane ropes to give a hug to Douglass, one of the world’s most versatile swimmers and now a gold medalist.
It was the fourth swimming gold for the world’s most dominant swimming nation, to go along with 11 silver medals and six bronzes.
O’Callaghan, gold medalist in the 200 freestyle, started things off for the Australians, giving them a lead they never relinquished.
Lani Pallister and Briana Throssell kept the team from Down Under out front, even as Ledecky tried in vain to chase down Throssell on the third leg.
When Titmus dove in on the anchor leg with the lead, it was essentially over. The winner of the 400 freestyle and silver medalist in the 200 free finished in an Olympic record of 7:38.08.
Emma Gemmell held off China to give the U.S. the silver in 7:40.86. Claire Weinstein and Paige Madden rounded out the American squad.
Yang Junxuan, Li Bingjie, Ge Chutong and Liu Yaxin earned the bronze in 7:42.34.
Ledecky has one more event, the 800 freestyle. She’s the favorite for her fourth straight gold at that distance.
China’s Zhang Yufei, the reigning Olympic champion and of nearly two dozen swimmers from her country who tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the Tokyo Games but were allowed to compete, pushed the pace in the 200 fly over the first half of the race.
No way she was holding off McIntosh, though.
The 17-year-old powered to the lead on the third 50 and left no doubt on the closing lap. She touched in an Olympic-record of 2:03.03.