Ledecky wins eighth gold, eyes 2028 L.A. Games

NANTERRE, France — On a night when Léon Marchand was attempting an audacious double, Katie Ledecky proved again she’s a sure bet in swimming’s longest event.

Ledecky romped to the eighth Olympic gold medal of her brilliant career and 12th medal overall with a runaway victory in the 1,500-meter freestyle Wednesday at the Paris Games. She also confirmed after the race that she has no plans of retiring and wants to compete in Los Angeles.

“I’ve been consistent over these last few months and last few years in saying that I would love to compete in L.A. and that hasn’t changed,” Ledecky said. “That could change. I mean, you never know. So, I really just take it year by year at this point and I really haven’t thought much beyond this week in terms of what my fall is going to look like, what my next year is going to look like. But yeah, I don’t feel like I’m close to being finished in the sport yet.”

Ledecky, 27, tied fellow Americans Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin and Jenny Thompson for the most medals ever by a female swimmer. Ledecky said she wasn’t concerned about the history or records she’s making.

“Each [gold medal] means a lot and each one is challenging in its own way and I try not to really dwell on history or the magnitude of things again, I’ll just let you guys do that,” Ledecky said. “But yeah, I mean those women that I’m up there with now, they’re people that I’ve looked up to for so many years. I consider many of them friends, supporters, people that I was watching swim when I was just starting out in the sport, so that’s very special to me to share that with them and they definitely inspired me, so I hope that some little girl out there is watching and will come along and get up there with all of us someday too.”

Ledecky led right from the start and steadily pulled away, touching in an Olympic-record 15 minutes, 30.02 seconds in an event that joined the women’s program at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

France’s Anastasiia Kirpichinikova finished nearly a half-lap behind but thrilled the home fans by claiming the silver in 15:40.35. The bronze went to Germany’s Isabel Gose at 15:41.16.

After starting the Paris Games with a bronze in the 400m freestyle, this result looked more familiar for Ledecky.

She was clearly thrilled to be on top again, splashing the water and pumping her fist several times walking across the deck — a rare show of emotion for a stoic athlete who performs with machine-like efficiency.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.