NANTERRE, France — American swimming star Katie Ledecky cruised to victory in an event that’s become synonymous with her name, earning her first Olympic gold medal of the Paris Games in the women’s 1500-meter freestyle Wednesday.

Ledecky set an Olympic record with a time of 15:30.02.

She has not lost this race in more than 14 years, and she owns the 20 fastest times in world history in the event. It is, for all intents and purposes, only an actual race for silver. France’s Anastasiia Kirpichnikova earned it in 15:40.35, while Germany’s Isabel Gose won bronze in 15:41.16.

Simply the greatest. 🙌

Katie Ledecky adds another gold medal to her legendary career achievements.#ParisOlympics | 📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/skbxzj1CAj

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 31, 2024

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The Olympic gold medal is Ledecky’s eighth, which ties Jenny Thompson for the most for an American woman. Many would already consider Ledecky the greatest swimmer in the sport’s history, but she’s also making a strong case for the greatest female Olympic athlete ever.

Ledecky needs one more gold to tie Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina for the most gold medals for any female Olympian.

Ledecky, 27, has won 12 Olympic medals over four Games, and she’ll have a chance to add to that haul later this week with the women’s 800-meter freestyle (in which she is again a heavy favorite) and as part of the women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay.

The Paris Olympics are only the second Games with the 1500 free as an event for women. Ledecky was vocal earlier in her career about wanting to swim the event — which has long been part of world championship meets — at the Olympics. It is fitting, of course, that she is the only woman to have won it so far. Her name belongs next to that sliver of history.

“It’s often said that distance swimming requires enduring an excruciating, mind-numbing tedium few other athletes experience,” Ledecky wrote in her memoir. “Hour upon hour, day after day, for months, years, decades, distance swimmers stare at the dark line marking the bottom of the pool, tracking and tracing it as we churn back and forth in our muffled bubble of virtual silence, plagued by a loop of our innermost thoughts, our bodies screaming in agony from the stress of pushing ourselves to the limits of exertion. For me, this is any given Saturday.

“I’m kidding, of course. I, for one, have never viewed my chosen sport as a source of pain. For me, swimming has been a pleasure, even when — or perhaps especially when — it tests my limits. That said, I’m not here to argue with the common perception that long-distance swims can brutalize the body and mind. They absolutely can.”

Ledecky has said she plans to swim in Los Angeles at the 2028 Olympic Games, a stance she reiterated Wednesday night.

“I don’t feel like I’m close to being finished in the sport yet,” Ledecky said. “After seeing the kind of support that the French athletes are getting here, I think all us U.S. athletes are thinking about how cool that could be in Los Angeles, having the home crowd. That would be amazing.”

For more on swimming at the Olympics, follow The Athletic’s live blog.

Besides, Ledecky has always loved long-distance swims and will keep swimming them. She trains with coach Anthony Nesty and the male distance swimmers at the University of Florida, and she grew emotional earlier this week after earning a bronze medal in the women’s 400 free and discussing how much that training group has meant to her as both a swimmer and a person.

On Wednesday, though, there were no tears, only smiles and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Ledecky had won gold in her most dominant event in the most dominant fashion, and all was right in the pool.

Required reading

(Photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images; Graphic: John Bradford / The Athletic)

NANTERRE, France — French sensation Léon Marchand continued his spectacular run at the Paris Olympics by becoming the first swimmer in history to win the 200-meter butterfly and the 200-meter breaststroke at the same Games. And he did it on the same night.

Marchand earned his first gold medal of the day in the 200-meter butterfly and set an Olympic record with a time of 1:51.21 in an incredible come-from-behind win over Hungary’s Kristóf Milák, who finished second in 1:51.75.

UNREAL. LEON MARCHAND WITH AN INCREDIBLE COMEBACK TO IGNITE THE CROWD IN PARIS. 🇫🇷#ParisOlympics | 📺 NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/oErY1zMUvu

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 31, 2024

About two hours later, Marchand set another Olympic record by swimming the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:05.85. It was arguably the greatest one-night swimming performance in Olympic history.

“I knew it was possible for me to do — to finish the races, but maybe not win them,” Marchand said. “I never knew (if I could win both).”

Earlier in the week, Marchand won a gold medal in the 400-meter individual medley. So, he’s three-for-three in gold, with one event left in his program.

He is just the fourth male swimmer in Olympic history to win more than two individual gold medals at the same Games.

“Marchand’s march to greatness CONTINUES!” 🇫🇷

Leon Marchand just can’t be stopped in his home country. He wins gold in the men’s 200m breaststroke. #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/DEAEFeIxG4

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 31, 2024

The 22-year-old Frenchman, competing in his home Olympics, has been under a microscope all meet, carrying the pressure and hope of his countrymen and women in each of his swims. And he’s absolutely delivered.

Marchand’s time of 4:02.95 in the 400 IM also set an Olympic record, breaking the mark set by Michael Phelps in 2008. It was Marchand’s first Olympic gold medal and a moment that gave him goosebumps. Marchand said he was proud of himself and also his country.

Wednesday was always going to be a highlight of Marchand’s program in Paris, with him hoping to swim in the finals of the 200 fly and the 200-meter breaststroke in a span of two hours. It’s an ambitious double with two grueling races, but a schedule that Marchand said he’d been prepared for because of his NCAA experience at Arizona State. He’s used to doubles and short turnarounds between races and felt confident he could handle this schedule here.

Marchand’s coach, Bob Bowman, told him he thought he could complete Wednesday’s double after the 400 IM final because of how strong his breaststroke looked.

Marchand said the last few days have felt “kind of like a marathon,” but he thought he had enough time to recover and prepare in between. Winning two gold medals in one night was a dream of his.

“I had two gold medals in two hours, and that is quite incredible,” he said.

Marchand has been confident in pretty much every setting he’s been in at his home Games. Paris La Défense Arena has embraced him with both arms, the crowd loud and rollicking each time he steps up to the starting block that a competitor compared the environment to the feel of a soccer match.

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND LISTEN. 🔉

Leon Marchand had the Paris fans in an absolute frenzy during his comeback win. #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/3a5tdktQ0a

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) July 31, 2024

But Marchand had been preparing for this moment, and he knew coming into the meet just how hard he’d been working to succeed on this stage. Bowman has been through similar experiences with his former protege — Phelps. He’s tried to keep Marchand in his routine, avoiding as many potential distractions as possible.

“The main thing is just getting prepared in the water — the main thing is just swimming as fast as possible,” Marchand told The Athletic this spring. “But it’s also not only about swimming when it’s a home Olympics.”

A home Olympics also means that his smile is a bit bigger after he touches the walls and the cheers are even louder than he could ever have imagined.

Marchand has another opportunity to medal in the men’s 200-meter individual medley. He’ll swim in the prelims for that event Thursday morning.

For more on swimming at the Olympics, follow The Athletic‘s live blog.

Required reading

(Photo: Bradley Kanaris / Getty Images)

Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe has become the majority owner at Ligue 2 club Caen via his Coalition Capital investment fund.

Coalition Capital has bought the 80 per cent of the club’s shares which had been owned by asset management company Oaktree Capital Management, which also owns 99.6 per cent of Italian club Inter Milan.

Coalition Capital is the investment fund of Interconnected Ventures, founded by Mbappe and “committed to driving continuous innovation in sports, media, and investments”.

Caen — based in the city located in Normandy, 240 km west of Paris — confirmed the transfer of funds from Oaktree to Coalition Capital on Wednesday.

Ziad Hammoud, CEO of Interconnected Ventures, will become Caen president.

Coalition Capital annonce la reprise des parts d’Oaktree dans le @SMCaen aux côtés de PAC Invest. #SMCaen #TeamSMC

— Stade Malherbe Caen (@SMCaen) July 31, 2024

“As the lead investor in this project, we are very excited to continue the development of Caen, alongside PAC Invest (Pierre-Antoine Capton’s investment company, which remains a minority shareholder of the club),” Hammoud said.

“Our shared vision with the club of sporting excellence and community engagement is at the heart of our approach. We are determined to create an environment where young talents can flourish and where the club can defend its identity with strength and ambition.”

When he was 13, Mbappe came close to joining the youth academy of Caen, who tracked him for three years and held talks with his family over a move. However, the striker joined Monaco.

Caen finished sixth in Ligue 2 in the 2023-24 season, missing out on the promotion play-offs to Ligue 1 by one point, having finished fifth the previous term.

The club spent five seasons in the French top flight until relegation in 2019 and gave senior breakthroughs to players including N’Golo Kante, Raphael Guerreiro and William Gallas.

(Aurelien Meunier – PSG/PSG via Getty Images)