Katie Ledecky remains the gold standard in the 800-meter freestyle.
The American swimming star won the 800 free Saturday at the swimming world championships by tracking down Summer McIntosh. McIntosh, the 18-year-old Canadian star, was leading after 700 meters before fading and ceding the race to Ledecky, who won in 8:05.62, with Lani Pallister of Australia taking silver (8:05.98) and McIntosh (8:07.29) settling for bronze.
Ledecky, 28, said she was not aware she was trailing. She glanced down at a race results sheet to confirm it.
“I didn’t know,” she said. “I just knew it was close the whole way. There were times where I thought I was just going to break away. I was just happy I was up there.
“You just never know when you dive what everyone’s tactics are going to be — or what’s going to happen,” she added. “It was fun to just be in that kind of a race. Just try to make small moves just here and there.”
McIntosh, who won three gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, hates losing, and she showed it afterward with her comments. They were short and right to the point.
“Obviously, that’s not even close to what I wanted: time-wise, place-wise, how I executed the race. Nothing,” she said.
Ledecky, who first won the 800 freestyle at the 2012 Olympics, has not lost in the discipline at a major race since. She has now won 23 gold medals at world championships and 30 overall. Add to that nine Olympic gold medals and 14 Olympic medals overall.
Despite coming up short in the 800 free, McIntosh has won three gold medals in Singapore. She is the favorite to capture gold in Sunday’s 400 individual medley.
Ledecky’s gold medal was one of three won by the United States on Saturday, by far its best performance in what had been a lackluster championships for the team.
Gretchen Walsh of the United States won the 50 butterfly in 24.83 seconds for her second individual gold of the worlds. Earlier in the worlds, she won the 100 fly. Alexandria Perkins of Australia claimed silver (25.31) with bronze for Roos Vanotterdijk of Belgium (25.43).
“It feels great to be like myself again in the water after kind of a rocky week,” said Walsh, referring to the “acute gastroenteritis” that the Americans have battled in Singapore following a training camp in Thailand.
“Two-time world champion. Can’t complain with that,” Walsh added.
Paris Olympic 50-free gold medalist Cameron McEvoy of Australia repeated his title in the worlds, winning in a quick 21.14. Ben Proud of Britain was the silver medalist (21.26), and American Jack Alexy took bronze (21.46).
Defending champion and world-record holder Kaylee McKeown of Australia won gold again, taking the 200-meter backstroke in 2:03.33. American Regan Smith took her fourth silver medal in Singapore (2:04.29) with bronze for American Claire Curzan (2:06.04).
Maxime Grousset of France picked up his second gold, taking the 100 butterfly in 49.62, just off the world record of 49.45 by American Caeleb Dressel. Noe Ponti of Switzerland took silver (49.83) with bronze for Canadian Ilya Kharun (50.07). Grousset also won the 50 fly.
The United States also set the world record in the 4×100 mixed relay Saturday, with the team of Alexy, Patrick Sammon, Kate Douglass and Torri Huske combining to clock a time of 3:18.48.
The old record was 3:18.83 set in 2023 by Australia. It was only the second world record set in these championships, the first of which was set by Frenchman Léon Marchand, who shattered the 200 individual medley record (1:52.69) earlier this week. He will try to break his own 400 IM record Sunday, a mark of 4:02.50 set in the 2023 worlds in Fukuoka, Japan.
The Americans now have eight gold medals, one ahead of Australia with the championships closing on Sunday. The Americans have 26 overall medals, and Australia has 17 overall.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
