Swimmer Katie Ledecky takes record ninth gold in Paris Olympics

Katie Ledecky tore up the record books again at the Paris Games by claiming a ninth career gold medal, while teenager Summer McIntosh put her name among the greats as Canada’s first triple champion at a single Olympics.

Caeleb Dressel joined compatriot Ledecky with a ninth gold without diving into the La Defense Arena pool when his United States teammates swept to the mixed medley relay title in world record time.

But home hero Leon Marchand tasted defeat for the first time despite the ear-splitting support of another packed house when France finished fourth in the relay.

With four golds, Marchand has been the meet’s pre-eminent champion — but Saturday night belonged to Ledecky as she won an unprecedented fourth 800 metres freestyle title to match former Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina’s record of nine gold medals for a female Olympian.

Ledecky also joined fellow American great Phelps as the only swimmer to win four or more Olympic golds in the same event.

She won the 800 in 8:11.04, a second clear of Australia’s silver medallist Ariarne Titmus in a repeat of their Tokyo 2020 tussle.

Ledecky’s teammate Paige Madden took bronze.

Ledecky’s victory was exactly 12 years on from her first 800 title at the 2012 London Games at the age of 15.

“I knew that August 3rd is the day I won in 2012, and I didn’t want August 3rd to be a day that I didn’t move forward, so I kind of felt like I put a lot of pressure on myself,” Ledecky told reporters.

“But I’m just really happy that I could get the job done.”

At the tender age of 17, McIntosh knows all about getting it done. She became Canada’s first triple gold-medallist at the same Games when she won the 200m individual medley(IM), having already won the 400 IM and 200m butterfly.

“I’m always wanting more,” said McIntosh, who will swim in the women’s 4x100m medley relay on the final day on Sunday.

“I’m never satisfied, and I think that’s one of my strengths.”

American Kate Douglass took the 200 IM silver and Australian Kaylee McKeown was awarded the bronze after U.S. swimmer Alex Walsh, the 2021 silver medallist, was disqualified for an illegal turn.

McIntosh finished her individual events at Paris with three golds and a silver, joining Michelle Smith, Katinka Hosszu and Kristin Otto with four individual medals from a single Games.

Only Australia’s Shane Gould, who took five at Munich 1972, has more among women swimmers.

Deployed as a heat swimmer on Friday, Dressel was benched for the mixed medley final but will celebrate the gold anyway.

His ninth puts him level with Mark Spitz, second on the all-time list for men’s swimming, with only Michael Phelps above them.

The U.S. final quartet of Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske won the medley in three minutes 37.43 seconds, smashing the previous world record of 3:37.58 set by Britain during their gold-winning swim at Tokyo.

Hungary earlier celebrated a second gold of the meet as Kristof Milak took the men’s 100m butterfly title in 49.90, 0.09 seconds ahead of Canadian runner-up Josh Liendo.

Ilya Kharun grabbed a second bronze for Canada, having also taken one in the 200m butterfly in Paris.

The Paris pool has been the throw-back Olympics in many ways, with evergreen Swede Sarah Sjostrom claiming a stunning 100m freestyle gold after deciding very late to enter the event.

She will be strong favourite to add the 50m title on the final night on Sunday after resetting the Olympic record and falling only 0.05 of a second short of her world record (23.61) in a stunning semi-final swim.

Ireland’s first Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen, the men’s 800m freestyle gold medallist, will bid for the 1,500m crown to complete the distance double.

The meet will close with finals for the men’s and women’s 4x100m medley relays.