PARIS: American Katie Ledecky made history on Saturday by winning the ninth Olympic gold of her career, while Canada's Summer McIntosh underlined her status as one of the sport's rising stars with her third Paris Games gold.
Ledecky won her fourth consecutive 800-meter Olympic freestyle title, tying the record for most gold medals won by a female athlete in any sport.
McIntosh, 17, produced a brilliant late surge to win the 200m individual medley to add to her wins in the 400m medley and 200m butterfly.
Ledecky has dominated the 800m since winning the event as a 15-year-old at the London Games in 2012, and while she was pushed all the way by Australian Ariarne Titmus, her crown defense never looked in jeopardy.
The 27-year-old hit the wall in 8 minutes 11.04 seconds, ahead of Titmus (8:12.29) and USA's Paige Madden (8:13.00).
“I knew Ariorn was going to give me everything she had,” Ledecky said.
“I felt confident coming into it, but it was going to be tough all the way down to finish anyway.
“I just have to stick with the race and trust myself, trust my training, I know how to race that event and I'm kind of relieved that I got my hands on the wall.”
The ninth gold drew her level with Soviet-era artistic gymnast Larisa Latynina as the only woman to win so many titles.
The longest distance swimmer ever seen at the Games, she won silver in the 1500m freestyle relay and 4x200m freestyle relay and bronze in the 400m freestyle in Paris.
No other female swimmer has won gold in four different Olympics, and Ledecky said the record gave her special satisfaction.
“I think the four times is the one that is the most important for me. I felt like I put a lot of pressure on myself but I'm really happy that I got to work,” she added.
Titmus, who beat Ledecky in the 400-meter freestyle, was full of praise for the American feat.
“She's been winning this race since I was 11 and I'll be 24 next month. That's just remarkable. She's unreal,” she said.
McIntosh led Australia's Kelly McKean after the backstroke with USA's Alex Walsh taking the advantage following the breaststroke leg on the final turn.
But McIntosh once again produced a killer final lap to take a thrilling victory.
After third-placed Walsh was disqualified, America's Kate Douglas won silver and McKeown won bronze.
McIntosh was able to enjoy another casual stroll around the pool, waving to her fans with the gold medal around her neck.
“It's very surreal. I'm proud of myself for how I've been able to recover and manage the events because it's a lot,” Kishore said.
Hungary's Christoph Milak won the men's 100m butterfly to win his country's second swimming gold of the Games.
Canada's Josh Leando won silver and Ilya Kharun won bronze.
Hungarians are celebrating for the second time this week at La Défense Arena after Hubert Kos won gold in the 200m backstroke.
Milak won a silver medal at the same event in Tokyo and also won silver in the 200m fly this week, beating Leon Marchand.
Adding to his 200m success three years ago, he now has two career golds in the fly.
In the mixed 4x100m medley relay, the United States won gold in a world record time, ahead of China and Australia.
The team of Ryan Murphy, Nick Fink, Gretchen Walsh and Tori Huske bettered the mark set by Great Britain at the Tokyo Games in 3min 37.43sec.
In the semifinals of the women's 50m freestyle, Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom swam a new Olympic record of 23.66, the third fastest in history.
