Ledecky adds another swimming gold

NANTERRE, France — Katie Ledecky proved again she's a sure bet in swimming's longest event. Ledecky romped to the seventh individual Olympic gold medal — she has one team gold in a relay — and 12th medal overall with a runaway victory in the 1,500-meter freestyle Wednesday at the Paris Games. The 27-year-old Ledecky tied fellow Americans Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin and Jenny Thompson for the most medals ever by a female swimmer. Ledecky already held the mark for most individual gold medals by a woman with seven; she's got eight golds overall counting a relay victory. 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. This was similar to the race three years ago: Ledecky far in front and everyone else racing for a silver. 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 400 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. U.S. soccer women go 3-for-3 in group Trinity Rodman and Korbin Albert both scored and the United States remained undefeated at the Olympics with a 2-1 victory over Australia on Wednesday to conclude the group stage. The Americans, who already qualified for the quarterfinals, will play Japan on Saturday at Parc des Princes in Paris. Australia had to wait until the day's matches were over to learn if it advanced. The United States is the winningest team at the Olympics, with four gold medals in women's soccer. They're playing under new coach Emma Hayes, who is tasked with turning the team around after a disappointing Women's World Cup. So far the team is off to a good start. The front trio of Rodman, Sophia Smith, and Mallory Swanson have scored seven of the team's nine goals in France. "The team is feeling good, we've had three great performances," Crystal Dunn said. "Obviously there's always things that we look at where we're like, 'Alright, this could be better.' But overall I'm proud of the group. I think we really came together." Rodman broke through in the 43rd minute when she poked in the ball in a scramble in front of the net. Albert, who was subbed into the game during the second half, added a goal in the 77th. "I was trying and hoping for a goal," Albert said. "I've been working at it in practice and mentally, just trying to focus on it. And then it just happened. I actually closed my eyes and then I opened them and I was like, 'Oh my God it went in.'" France's Marchand pulls off historic double Turns out, those comparisons to Michael Phelps weren't farfetched at all when to comes to Léon Marchand. They certainly weren't a burden for the 22-year-old Frenchman. Marchand completed one of the most audacious doubles in swimming history Wednesday night, winning the 200-meter butterfly and the 200 breaststroke about two hours apart at the Paris Games. Two grueling races. Two very different strokes. Two Olympic records. Two gold medals. Take that, Phelps. Thrilling the home fans and claiming the spotlight even on a night when Katie Ledecky romped to another gold medal, Marchand claimed his second and third victories at La Defense Arena and stamped himself — with the Olympics not even a week old — as one of the faces of these games. After rallying to beat world-record holder and defending Olympic champion Kristóf Milák in the 200 fly with a finishing kick for the ages, Marchand made it look downright easy in the 200 breast. He led all the way, touching in 2 minutes, 5.85 seconds as more than 15,000 fans — many of them holding up cardboard cutouts of his smiling face — nearly blew the roof off La Defense Arena. "Léon! Léon! Léon!" they screamed, a chant that was sure to carry on through the night in Paris. Triathlon success An ambitious plan to clean up the long-polluted Seine River paid off when the swimming portions of the Paris Olympics triathlons were finally held in the waterway Wednesday. After a couple of canceled swim practices and a day's delay because of the river's water quality, the women's and men's events finished in spectacular fashion — on the Pont Alexandre III bridge with the Eiffel Tower in the background. "It's magical," said newly minted gold medalist Cassandre Beaugrand of France. "It's the best route we've had in a long time and I know all the other athletes feel the same." Beaugrand navigated slippery roads that turned the cycling portion into a series of spills following an early morning rain. The men's triathlon, which started less than an hour after the women finished, there was plenty of stifling heat and humidity to deal with as the sun came out in full force. Alex Yee of Britain used a burst at the end to catch and pass Hayden Wilde of New Zealand to win the gold medal by six seconds.