Even after four Olympic Games, Team USA's Katie Ledecky is still the one to beat. She claimed her second 1,500-meter freestyle gold medal with a time of 15:30.02, outpacing her own time from the 2020 Games.
Chinese swimmer Pan Zhanle swam a 100-meter freestyle heat in record time, finishing in 46.92 seconds and eclipsing Caeleb Dressel’s Tokyo 2020 time of 47.02 seconds. In the event’s final, he kicked it into another gear to break the first world record of the Games with a time of 46.40 seconds.
On his home turf, French swimmer Léon Marchand beat Michael Phelps’ 2008 record with a time of 4:02.95 in the 400-meter individual medley. Marchand also broke the Olympic record for the 200-meter butterfly in 1:51.25, a hair faster than the previous time set during the 2020 Games.
Brazilian Gabriel Medina proved why he’s one of the greatest surfers ever when he put up a score of 9.90 during a heat, the highest Olympic score for a single wave.
Australia's Kaylee McKeown recorded an Olympic best in the 100-meter backstroke, flying across the pool in 57.33 seconds and surpassing her own time from Tokyo 2020.