PIX: Ledecky takes record but Australia win 4x200 freestyle

Images from the Olympics swimming action at the La Defense Arena, Paris, on Thursday.

Katie Ledecky became the most decorated female Olympic swimmer of all time but the United States great had to settle for silver as Australia made sure of the 4x200 metres freestyle gold at the Paris Games on Thursday.

China took the bronze, with Canada fourth.

Ledecky now has 13 Olympic medals -- eight golds, four silvers and a bronze -- one more than compatriots Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin and Australia's Emma McKeon.

She and her great compatriot Michael Phelps are the only swimmers to win 13 medals, with the latter's tally of 28 in no danger of being matched.

The Australian team of Mollie O'Callaghan, Lani Pallister, Brianna Throssell and Ariarne Titmus finished in an Olympic record time of seven minutes 38.08 seconds at the La Defense Arena.

Jamie Perkins and Shayna Jack, who swam in the heats, also took gold.

The US finished 2.78 seconds behind with Ledecky putting in a fighting third leg to haul teammates Claire Weinstein, Paige Madden and Erin Gemmell up from third to second.

Another win would have taken Ledecky's tally to nine golds and level with former Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina's record haul for a female Olympian from any sport, but that was too big an ask.

Ledecky can still do that in the women's 800 metres free on Saturday, after winning the 1,500. The American, who made her Olympic debut at London 2012, holds the World record in both distances.

On Thursday night Australia led from the start with O'Callaghan powering down the pool before handing over to Pallister, recovered from COVID earlier in the week and consolidating for Throssell to keep Ledecky safely at bay.

Titmus was never in any danger as she made sure of her second gold and third medal of the Games.

Summer McIntosh wins second gold

Summer McIntosh showed the Paris Olympic pool the thrill of the new with a second gold medal for Canada.

McIntosh swept in like a summer storm to make off with the 200 metres butterfly title before Ledecky took a record 13th Olympic medal earlier, helping the United States take silver behind Australia in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay.

Ledecky's achievement was another boost for the US team following Kate Douglass's gold in the 200m breaststroke.

Hungary savoured their first champion of the meet when the Bob Bowman-coached Hubert Kos took gold in the men's 200m backstroke.

The men's swimming has been all about French poster boy Leon Marchand, but 17-year-old McIntosh may end up remembered as the face of the women's meet.

Having blown away the field for the 400 metres individual medley gold on day three, her second gold was more of a battle in the event her Olympian mum Jill Horstead swam for Canada.

She had to reel in the eventual bronze medallist and Chinese defending champion Zhang Yufei, then fended off America's Regan Smith, who took the silver, to win by 0.81 seconds with a time of 2:03.03.

She also became the first Canadian woman to win three individual medals in swimming at an Olympics, and another may be coming in the 200m individual medley.

Douglass takes 200m breaststroke gold

Kate Douglass underlined her remarkable versatility with gold in the women's 200 metres breaststroke at the Olympics, beating Tokyo champion Tatjana Smith, who bows out of swimming with a silver medal in her final race.

Taking full advantage of her turning prowess, American Douglass nudged ahead of Smith after every length and held off the South African to touch the wall in 2:19.24 at La Defense Arena.

World champion Tes Schouten won bronze for the Netherlands, her first Olympic medal.

Douglass's victory was her first Olympic gold and second of the meet following her silver medal in the women's 4x100 metres freestyle.

A master of all strokes, she also took the 200m individual medley bronze at Tokyo and is a major contender for gold in the same event in Paris.

"I'm really excited. I feel like for a while I wasn't sure if Olympic champion was going to be possible for me to say, and now it's just really exciting to see it happen," the 22-year-old told reporters.

Having won the 100m breaststroke gold on day three, Smith was bidding to match compatriot Penny Heyns who took both the 100 and 200m golds at the 1996 Atlanta Games and remains the only women's swimmer to do so.

She had to settle for silver but it gave her a total haul of four Olympic medals -- two golds and two silvers -- surpassing Chad le Clos (one gold, three silvers) as South Africa's most decorated Games swimmer.

Hungary's Kos wins men's 200m backstroke gold

Hubert Kos took Hungary's first swimming gold of the Paris Olympics when he won the men's 200 metres backstroke.

The 2023 World champion came from behind to touch out in one minute 54.26 seconds, 0.56 ahead of Greek silver medallist Apostolos Christou, at the La Defense Arena.

Switzerland's Roman Mityukov the bronze.

Christou led for the first 150 metres, with Kos then slotting into second at the 150 mark before moving up a gear to power past.

Kos has been working with Michael Phelps's former coach Bob Bowman, who is also training France's triple gold winner Leon Marchand.

"I just kept swimming and swimming and you know, I was just happy to get my hand on the wall first," said the Hungarian.

"It was just a different race strategy today. I just knew that I have to do something like that to win. It doesn't really matter how I got there. The point is that I got there and I'm just really happy."

The last Greek swimmer to win an Olympic medal was Spyridon Gianniotis, who finished second in the 10km open water marathon in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Greece has otherwise not taken a men's medal in swimming since the Athens Games of 1896.

• THE OLYMPICS, 2024