- Associated Press - Wednesday, July 31, 2024

PARIS — Bethesda native Katie Ledecky gritted her teeth and flexed her left arm atop the lane rope.

There was plenty of splashing, too, by one of the most accomplished swimmers to ever dive into the pool.

The American star romped to her seventh individual Olympic gold medal — she also has a gold in a relay — and 12th medal overall with a runaway victory in the 1,500 freestyle Wednesday.

The 27-year-old Ledecky tied fellow Americans Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin and Jenny Thompson for the most medals ever by a female swimmer. Ledecky already held the mark for most individual gold medals by a woman coming into these games.

“I try not to think about history very much or any of that,” Ledecky said. “But I know those names, those people that I’m up there with, they’re swimmers that I looked up to when I first started swimming. So it’s an honor just to be named among them.”

Ledecky led right from the start and steadily pulled away, touching in an Olympic-record 15:30.02 in an event that joined the women’s program at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

This was similar to the race three years ago: Ledecky far in front and everyone else racing for a silver.

France’s Anastasiia Kirpichinikova finished nearly a half lap behind but thrilled the home fans by claiming the second spot on the podium in 15:40.35.

The bronze went to Germany’s Isabel Gose at 15:41.16.

After starting the Paris Games with a bronze in the 400 freestyle, this result looked more familiar for Ledecky.

She was clearly thrilled to be on top again, splashing the water and pumping her fist several times walking across the deck — a rare show of emotion for a stoic athlete who performs with machine-like efficiency.

“I know a lot of other people expected it of me,” Ledecky said. “That doesn’t make it easy. I mean, it’s not easy to always follow through and you get the job done.”

Ledecky won her first gold in London when she was just 15.

“It’s not easy, it doesn’t get any easier, so I do try to enjoy it each year and there’s different perspective that I have different years and different challenges that you face each year,” Ledecky said after winning the 1,500.

She is expected to compete in the final of the 4x200 freestyle relay on Thursday. The U.S. took silver in that event at the Tokyo Games after winning gold in the two previous Olympics, so that seems like a pretty sure bet for lucky medal No. 13.

Ledecky will be going for her fourth straight gold medal in the 800 freestyle, with the preliminaries set for Friday morning and the final to follow Saturday next evening.

“I have the relay tomorrow, that’s my next focus,” she said after the race. “Then, I’ll think about the 800.”

The American star now has eight gold medals in her career, seven of them coming in individual races. She came into these games already holding the record for the most individual golds by a female swimmer.

Swedish sprint swimmer Sarah Sjostrom won the women’s 100-meter freestyle Wednesday when she touched the wall in 52.16 seconds, edging American silver medalist Torri Huske of Arlington, Virginia, who finished at 52.29 while Siobhan Bernadette Haughey of Hong Kong took bronze in 52.33.

Ledecky’s mark might not even have been the most impressive performance on a big night in the pool.

France’s Leon Marchand completed one of the most audacious doubles in swimming history Wednesday night, winning the 200-meter butterfly and the 200 breaststroke about two hours apart in front of a home crowd cheering his every stroke.

Two grueling races. Two very different strokes. Two Olympic records. Two gold medals.

Take that, Michael Phelps, who did several doubles of his own while claiming a record eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“I really enjoyed every moment of those two finals,” Marchand said. “It was really amazing for, for me to swim. Those was really good opponents too. The (200) fly was crazy for me. I’m really proud of everything.”

Marchand notched his second and third victories at La Defense Arena and stamped himself — with the Olympics not even a week old — as one of the faces of the Games.

After rallying to beat world-record holder and defending Olympic champion Kristóf Milák in the 200 fly with a finishing kick for the ages, Marchand made it look easy in the 200 breast. The bronze went to Canada’s Ilya Kharun

He led all the way, touching in 2 minutes, 5.85 seconds as more than 15,000 fans — many of them holding up cardboard cutouts of his smiling face — nearly blew the roof off La Defense Arena.

“Leon! Leon! Leon!” they screamed, a chant that was sure to carry on through the night in Paris.

 

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