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TOKYO — As the Americans went on to win medals at the Olympics, it was the Katie and Caeleb Show, an ongoing series in swimming.
Caeleb Dressel won his third gold medal at these Olympics and broke the world record in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 49.45 seconds. He will seek his fourth gold in the 50-metre flight on Sunday, the last day of the match.
Katie Ledecky finished her match at the Tokyo Games with a gold medal in one of her signature women’s 800m freestyle events, becoming the first swimmer to win the event in three consecutive Olympics.
He finished in 8 minutes 12.57 seconds, beating Australian Ariarne Titmus by 1.26 seconds. And as Ledecky finished in Tokyo, flying away with two gold medals (the other 1,500 free) and two silver medals, he said he’s looking forward to the 2024 Olympics in Paris just three years later. 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
“I’m definitely passing through Paris,” said Ledecky. “And maybe beyond. We’ll see.”
His four medals in Tokyo give him a total of 10 over three Olympics, including seven golds and three silvers.
Ledecky, 24, already holds the Olympic and world record at the event established at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. At the time, he swam at a speed of 8:04.79, gaining about 12 seconds. At Rio, he was the last of his four gold medals to go with a silver.
But this is a different Ledecky and a different time. He remained the light favorite and could have gone on to win the 8:15.67 qualifying round five years ago in Brazil. At some of Ledecky’s best events, rivals come close, including 15-year-old United States teammate Katie Grimes, perhaps an heir.
Grimes finished fourth behind bronze medalist Simona Quadarella of Italy.
However, Titmus has now become Ledecky’s primary rival. He beat Ledecky in two other individual events here, 200 free (Ledecky was fifth) and 400 free (Ledecky won silver, missed gold by 0.67 seconds).
“I’m really excited to have this kind of competition,” Ledecky said. “It’s something that feeds me and I know it feeds it too. And I hope I can continue to progress here and stay competitive.”
Ledecky said he was “really happy” with his match in Tokyo, which also included a rare fifth place in the free 200. Motivated to finish with 800 free wins.
“I really really wanted to end on a good note,” he said. “I knew that if I finished on a bad grade, it would linger with me, so I tried to use that as motivation to finish the best piece possible.”
Dressel finished the 100 flies with the best marks possible—a world record—but she had more swims to do. He passed the semi-final series in the Free 50 and will be preferred to winning one more gold on the last day of the match.
He then joined the American team in the finals of the inaugural medley 4×100 medley relay, free swimming in the last leg, but not enough to win the United States a medal. England won with a world record, followed by China and Australia.
The United States finished fifth, three seconds behind the winners.
But Dressel did not lose any individual activity. At 100 flies, Dressel already holds the world record (49.5 seconds in 2019) and the Olympic record (49.71, Friday). Hungarian Kristof Milak, who won a gold medal in the 200 flies, swam to Dressel’s left, and Dressel suspected that this would be her closest rival.
He was right. Milak followed Dressel to the finish and touched a European record of 49.68.
“What a close race – the two fastest times in history,” Dressel said. “You don’t experience this very often, so it’s really special to be a part of it.”
The two, along with Michael Phelps and Milorad Cavic, remain the only athletes in the history of the event to swim under 50 seconds.
“This event is going to get even faster, I know that,” Dressel said. “It’s exciting that he took a world record to win.”
The Americans had hoped for one or two more medals in the 200m women’s backstroke, but they finished fourth and fifth.
Australian Kaylee McKeown won with 2:04.68.
One thing was missing from the event: world record holder Regan Smith, who failed to qualify because he finished third in the US trials. It is a testament to American depth in this event and throughout the sport.
The two swimmers who beat him in June – Rhyan White and Phoebe Bacon – were positioned to claim medals here and swam either side of 29-year-old Australian Emily Seebohm, who had the fastest time in qualifying.
White, 21, finished fourth. Bacon, 18, finished fifth.
(As for Smith, he finished his program and left Tokyo with a silver medal and a bronze medal.)
This left the stage open for Dressel and Ledecky, who left the legacy intact and looking to grow.
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