2024 Olympics: Torri Huske earns silver in 100-meter freestyle; Katie Ledecky sets new record in distance race

The United States had a historic day in the pool on Wednesday as Katie Ledecky produced a dominant performance. Ledecky captured the gold medal in the women's 1,500-meter freestyle as she turned in an Olympic-record time of 15:30.02.

Ledecky now owns the top 20 times in the history of the event. The United States star jumped out to a sizable lead in the opening 100 meters of the race, and it ended up being a lead that she never relinquished.

Additionally, Ledecky won her eighth gold medal in her decorated Olympic career. With Wednesday's victory, Ledecky tied fellow Americans Dara Torres, Jenny Thompson and Natalie Coughlin for the most medals ever by a female swimmer at 12. She'll have a chance to break that tie on Thursday when she competes in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay.

Ledecky will also compete in the women's 800-meter freestyle on Friday, where she also won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

In the women's 100-meter freestyle final, Torri Huske earned a silver medal as she finished in second place with a time of 52.29. Huske had the lead at various points throughout the race, but seemed to run out of gas coming down the home stretch. Sweden's Sarah Sjoestroem ended up just edging out Huske to capture the gold medal in the event with a time of 52.16.

When it came to the men's 200-meter breaststroke final, American swimmer Josh Matheny finished in seventh place with a time of 2:09.52. He was in third place after the first 50 meters of the race, but ended up fading throughout the second half of the race. France's Leon Marchand won the event and secured his second gold medal of the day.

The United States had two representatives in the men's 100-meter freestyle in Jack Alexy and Chris Guiliano, but the United States failed to reach the podium in the event. Alexy ended up finishing in seventh place with a time of 47.96, while Guiliano came in eighth with a time of 47.98. China's Pan Zhanle won the event and set a world record in the process at 46.40.

Attention now turns to Thursday where there will be four more medal races, including the women's 200-meter butterfly, men's 200-meter backstroke, women's 200-meter breaststroke, and women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay.

Regan Smith qualified for the 200-meter butterfly final with a time of 2:05.39. She narrowly missed out on beating Canada's Summer McIntosh in the semifinal race, but the two will meet again on Thursday, along with another American swimmer in Alex Shackell, who qualified with a time of 2:06.46.

Meanwhile, in an unlikely turn of events, Keaton Jones had a better showing than Ryan Murphy in the men's 200-meter backstroke. Jones came in fourth place in the second semifinal heat with a time of 1:56.39, while Murphy finished in sixth place with a time of 1:56.62. Jones will advance to the final on Thursday.

American swimmer Kate Douglass won the second semifinal heat with a time of 2:19.74 of the women's 200-meter breaststroke, while Lilly King came in third place in the event with a time of 2:23.25. As a result of their top three finish, both Douglass and King have qualified for Thursday's 200-meter breaststroke final.