History was made in multiple facets for the United States' swim team at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday, as one of the country's biggest stars and its mixed medley relay team combined to set multiple milestones. Team USA's crowning achievement would come in the mixed 4x100-meter medley relay, in which they set a new world record on their way to earning gold.
Led off by Ryan Murphy and Nic Fink, the U.S. would take the lead thanks to a personal-best time of 55.18 seconds from Gretchen Walsh, who then gave way to Torri Huske to finish the job. Huske would do just that, posting a 51.88 in the final 100 meters to beat China by 0.12 seconds and set a new world record of 3:37.43 for the event. Murphy, Fink, Walsh, and Huske all medaled alongside Caeleb Dressel, who earned his ninth gold medal despite his struggles in freestyle competition by virtue of having swam in the preliminaries of the event.
The United States' team accomplishment followed up another feat by Katie Ledecky, who entered another category of the Olympic record books after winning the 800-meter freestyle. In earning her ninth Olympic gold medal, Ledecky surpassed Jenny Thompson (eight) for the most gold medals by any female swimmer, and she also became the first woman to win four-straight gold medals in a single event across any sport. Making that feat especially notable was that it came 12 years to the day that Ledecky earned her first Olympic gold medal in London in 2012.
Also medaling for the United States was Paige Madden, who earned bronze after finishing third to Ledecky in the 800-meter freestyle, and Kate Douglass who won silver in the 200-meter individual medley. The silver was Douglass' fourth of this Olympics. The individual medley also would have seen Alex Walsh, who finished third, win a bronze medal, but she would be disqualified after making an illegal turn from backstroke to breaststroke.
Walsh's disqualification led to Australia's Kaylee McKeown being moved up to third in the finishing order and taking bronze in an event that was won by Canada's Summer McIntosh, who set an Olympic record time of 2:06.56 in earning gold.